Running from the DEAD
by The Norveyan
Summary: They walk every street, They haunt every house. Escaping from Fujimi Academy, a group of high school students find themselves fleeing from an enemy that never rests, never stops, and haunts them everywhere they go. Rated T, may change to M later
1. Chapter 1

_MUCH thanks to draco38 and MarshalZhukov for some beta-reading, they're both lovely people and you should read their stuff at once!_

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><p><strong>Running From the DEAD<strong>

**By JSF16**

**Chapter One**

When it happened when it did, Denya was quite sure he could not have been in a worse possible location. If anyone had told him that Fujimi Academy was going to be his living tomb, he probably would have said it wasn't that bad. Not that he had any love for the school; actually he had his fair share of resentment towards it.

It was a very nice-looking place to be sure, definitely a hell of a lot better than his old school in Verkhoyansk, the dorm he was staying in was more luxurious than his living room at home. But even after only a week in the school, the Russian exchange student soon found out it was plagued by the problems that seemed to permeate every school in existence. Namely, it had the same damn hierarchy.

Observing from a distance, Denya confirmed his fears over a few weeks. As always, the majority of the kids stripped off any part of their personality that stood out and hammered themselves into shape to fit the status quo that was impressed on anyone who dared being popular, or having a real social life in the academy.

So Denya decided that the best thing to do would to just cruise under the radar. He was only there for a year, and a year wasn't too long. Do well, stay quiet, spoke when spoken too, stay out of other's business and he'd be back home before he knew it. For a week he did well, but ultimately he found out that it was impossible to exist in a place like Japan without some sort of human contact. Besides that, his Japanese was struggling and all the teachers were wrapped up in other matters.

So he searched for someone to help him, preferably someone that wouldn't draw attention to himself. After looking for a week, he met Takashi Komuro, and immediately decided it was time to break his silent barrier.

He wasn't a complete stranger to Takashi, Takashi had actually been one of the first to greet him informally outside of class. He seemed friendly and outgoing, and Denya usually gave him a brief 'hello' every morning before class. However asides from that, and the occasional discussion over lunch, he kept interaction to a minimum. Frankly, he had been a little worried if Takashi would even help him at all.

But Takashi possessed natural human decency -a somewhat rare trait in the Academy- and agreed to help him, not only with language, but with Japanese culture in general. And despite Denya's attempts at caution, he soon found friendship inevitable.

Well, Denya didn't consider it to be a real friendship, more of a friendly acquaintanceship. But regardless of what he thought of it, he found himself being pulled further and further into the realm of social interaction. He was soon chatting with Takashi more and more over lunch or in the hall, and in a much more relaxed manner too. And of course then he began to make contact with some of Takashi's friends.

Denya already knew Saya Takagi of course. Everyone knew of her, she was the daughter of one of the city's richest and most powerful men after all. She was in two of Denya's classes, and she was brilliant, daring, and beyond critical. And for that reason Denya respected her, even enjoyed her.

He rarely said anything to her, but he enjoyed watching her coldly shoot down all the over-optimistic ideas of their classmates. She wasn't just a technical genius; she was practical to the extreme. During an assignment when they'd all been tasked with making up a plan of how their class would survive crashing on a deserted island, she'd stood out remarkably. While everyone else cheerfully brought up ideas of shelter and signals for rescuers, she'd addressed issues such as using heated metal from the wreck to cauterize open wounds, and sawing off infected gangrenous body parts with bits of boiled coral. She was dumping water on their parade and she knew it, Denya couldn't help but admire that.

Of course she was still bossy, rude, arrogant, and nearly impossible to talk to for five minutes without developing and urge to stuff her into the nearest locker. Even Takashi, who'd known her since kindergarten and had the highest tolerance for her, seemed to be unable to stand her presence for very long.

Denya had tried to keep his social life to a minimum though. When he'd first arrived in Japan, he was mainly concerned with learning the language to a decent extent and doing well in his studies. Get in, complete the mission, and get out. Plain and simple, just how the farmboy enjoyed it.

However no man is an island, and Denya's heritage as a farmboy began to wear him down. Since he had lived on a farm his entire life, he had always been doing something; papa had made sure to that. He was almost always doing something or moving on to do something else. Idle hands are the devils playthings after all, and no son of Mikhail Kondrashin was going to sit on his can.

But now he found himself living in a Japanese dorm room, with nothing to do but pour over his studies. And no student, no matter how determined, could stay that engaged to schoolwork for that long. Denya quickly grew bored out of his skull and he began looking for outlets to relieve himself.

He'd tried anime and manga of course, but soon grew quite creeped out by the sheer weirdness of it all. He'd tried video games and movies too, but Denya was a man of action. Sitting around and jamming buttons for hours upon end was not a viable option for very long. So he turned to the school itself for entertainment.

Fujimi Academy was a very large and predacious school after all; it was only natural for it to have a wide array of sports to partake in. Denya naturally checked off the team-based sports right off the bat and began to look at the more individualistic events, particularly the combat training.

He blew off karate without a second thought. His first week there, one of the black-belts had tried to threaten some money off of him and ended up with a fractured rib and broken nose for his trouble. After that Denya decided there was nothing in hand-to-hand the karate sensei could teach him that papa hadn't.

He was quite surprised to find spear-fighting being taught, he'd never even heard of it as a sport until then. It was definitely unique, but Denya couldn't really wrap his head around it. The whole thing reeked of sheer impracticality, he couldn't think of a single reason he would ever need or even want to use a spear, unless it was for a competition, which was probably the only point of the class anyway.

Funny how it turned out though. He'd checked out the spear-fighting to stay out of social encounters, and yet that was exactly what walked smack-dab into him. On his way to go check out the kendo classes, he rounded a corner and collided right into one of the students, knocking her to the ground.

She landed on her back, dropping her gym bag and textbooks. Denya automatically knelt down to offer his hand in assistance, and then he saw her face.

A smooth rounded face topped with beautiful flowing chocolate-brown hair and illuminated by two piercing hazel eyes stared up at him. The blood rushed to his face and his entire body locked up on him. Denya didn't believe in 'love at first sight' bullshit, but he sure as hell believed in crushes at first sight, and that was exactly what he found himself struck by.

"Ow, damn it." She awkwardly brushed herself off before pulling herself to her feet, stooping down to collect her possessions. "Sorry about that." She said, looking up at him. This snapped Denya out of his freeze, as he began to stutter for the first time in his life.

"O-oh n-n-no, m-my ba-bad, so-sorry about that. Ar-are you okay?" He babbled while brushing himself off.

"I'm fine, thanks for asking, you good?" She asked.

"Ye-yeah, I'm perfectly fine. N-no problem. Uh, I-I'm in a hurry so, I've go-gotta run. Bye." Giving a faltering half-bow, he stumbled past her and down the hall towards the kendo club, mentally kicking himself the whole way. This was how he met Rei Myimato, the girlfriend of Takashi.

There is nothing to screw up a person trying to be discreet like an out-of-the-blue crush, Denya pulled completely out of the social circle for several days, trying to get himself back in line. His first crush was from a foreign country and was already the girlfriend of his own friend. Damn it.

So he kept his distance from her, politely acknowledging and answering her while keeping socialization to a minimum when he had to interact with her, which was rare thankfully as they only shared one class.

As he starved himself of friends, he began to get more and more bored. Yes he chatted with Takashi a fair deal at lunch, but it was completely skin-deep. He and Takashi shared few interests, and their conversations rarely strayed from the simple subjects that binded everyone; pop culture, the weather, basic politics, school life, and so on. Denya didn't bring up his past much because he doubted anyone would be terribly interested in it or the things he enjoyed talking about. All Takashi knew of Denya was that he was a sixteen year old Russian exchange student who'd grown up on a farm with only his father who was an ex-military man. He was polite, intelligent, and strong.

Actually it seemed like Takashi had first seemed almost a bit surprised by Denya's appearance. Soft-spoken and well-dressed, he had an almost gentlemanly appearance, although with a rough edge. Denya figured that, as a Russian, he was expected to be the burly vodka-guzzling bear of a man who yelled a lot and communicated in grunts. Of course that was absurd, vodka was damn near impossible to find available to him. Sake was fine, but it lacked the kick that Denya knew and loved.

As much as Denya tried to keep unnoticeable, fate has a funny way of forcing people into the situation they're trying to avoid. And so, a bit over a month after he'd joined, Denya met Kohta Hirano.

It wasn't exactly a proper greeting, although it was definitely most beneficial to building a friendship. Simply put, Denya had been walking past the washroom on his way to his locker when he'd heard the unmistakable grunts and thuds of an ass-kicking.

Peeking into the bathroom, he found three big tough-looking thugs brutally kicking a hunched-up form on the ground. It took Denya a few seconds to place a name to the pained face before him, but he recognized Kohta Hirano. He didn't know him very much, he was just a chubby history otaku with glasses who often had his face stuck in a book or a toilet bowl. He was quiet and easily intimidated by teacher and student alike. All-in-all he seemed like the usual poor otaku who refused to give up his passions to join the rest of the masses. And for that, Denya respected him. And for that, Denya decided to help him.

Stepping fully into the bathroom, Denya dropped his backpack and set his hands on his hips, leveling his gaze on the three bullies. "And just what the hell do you think you're doing?" He questioned. The beating came to a stop as three bodies slowly turned to face him, a cocky in-your-face attitude stamped across their features. The one in the center stepped up threateningly, a warning grin on his face.

"Excuse me? What are we doing? We're getting our money's worth out of this fatass. And you'll be next if you don't back the fuck off." He was obviously used to his presence intimidating anyone who stood up to him. Denya didn't move an itch, just gazed at him with cool blue eyes.

"Well I think you've had enough. You can now leave him alone and go, or I will kick your ass out your face." He cracked a small smile. "And trust me, I don't think anyone will notice the difference." The boy stepped back, arms open mockingly.

"Well well guys, looks live we've got ourselves a proper little Robin Hood here! Let's bust his little white ass open shall we?" With that, he darted at Denya, his left arm coming up in an under-handed feint while his right fist plowed straight toward the Russian's mouth.

Despite the limited space, Denya neatly sidestepped the attack, grabbed the boy's right arm and drove his own right fist into his nose with a _crunch._ And then before the stunned attacker could react, Denya grabbed the back of his neck and smashed into a stall door with a _wham!_ Denya let go, and the boy collapsed like a sack of rocks, blood tricking from his nose.

Stepping forward, Denya fell into a fighting stance.

"After you." He motioned towards the other two bullies. They approached him simultaneous, but the confined space prevented them from flanking Denya, who considered his options. He attacked, lunging forward with sudden speed for the left boy, only to turn around and grab the incoming punch from the right boy. Wrapping his hand around the wrist, he tightened his grip and twisted it hard. There was a cracking sound and the right boy screamed in agony. Grabbing him roughly by the back of his neck, Denya shoved him forward into the left boy, blocking his punch with the body of his own comrade.

Not stopping once, Denya threw his victim into the wall, jolting his head against the ceramic tiling. Before the boy could even think of recovering, Denya sent and uppercut exploding upwards into the bottom of the boys jaw, snapping his head back. A second driving punch from his left fist collided with the boy's temple, knocking his skull into the hand dryer. He went limp and piled to the floor, leaving only one more opponent.

By now, the final boy had recovered and was now coming at Denya, but in a more professional fighting stance that looked like karate. His arms coiled back like a snake, indicating he was preparing to punch. But Denya saw his weight shifting to his rear leg and knew he was about to kick.

He kicked, and Denya caught the snapped-up leg in both hands, and then proceeded to drive his own leg right up into the boys exposed gonads. His jaw shot open and his eyes flared in agony as a small pathetic cry squeaked out of his throat. Not hesitating for a moment, Denya roughly grabbed the scruff of his neck and brought his head down hard on the counter once, twice. The boy went limp as a rag, and Denya dropped him like a used one. He slumped to the floor into a pile with his friends, blood spilling from a gash in his forehead.

Taking a moment to brush himself off, Denya stepped over their prone forms and bent down to help the still-quivering Kohta, who'd had his eyes clenched shut the entire time. "You can get up now, they're all gone." He said comfortingly. Kohta popped one eye open, surveyed the carnage, and pushed himself up, rubbing his sore body and moaning loudly. He looked up at the bullies, all in various stages of unconsciousness, then up at Denya. Then at the bodies again and again up at Denya. His eyes widened as he made the connection, and he looked at Denya in awe.

"D-did you take out all of them?" He asked shakily. Denya smiled and shrugged.

"Da, papa taught me a bit about to protect myself. I figured you needed it more than me though. I'm Denya by the way, Denya Mikhailovitch Kondrashin." He said as he reached down to help Kohta to his feet. Kohta pulled himself up and brushed himself off before reaching back down to scoop up his backpack. Standing to shake Denya's hand, he bowed his head humbly.

"Thank you for your assistance Kondrashin-san, I am in your debt." Denya rolled his eyes.

"Forget it, and call me Denya. You don't owe me anything." Kohta gave him a thankful look, which then turned puzzled.

"Wait a second, you're the exchange student right?" He said, giving Denya an odd look

"In the flesh."

"Why'd you help out some fat otaku like me then? That isn't exactly the best way to get a positive following around here." Kohta didn't seemed annoyed in the least. He was simply confused. Denya shrugged as he stuck his hands under the tap and switched on the hot water.

"I respect you." He said simply. This didn't satisfy Kohta however, who pressed further.

"Respect me? What the hell for?"

"For standing up to them." Denya jerked his head at the three bodies on the floor. He soaped up his hands nice and good and turned up the hot water.

"I don't mean to question your judgement Denya-san, but if you didn't notice, I was the one huddling on the floor. I don't think getting my ass royally kicked is the correct way to stand up to those guys." Kohta took his glasses off and rubbed them vigorously with his shirt. Satisfied, he stuck them back on and smiled pleasantly at the result.

Denya finished washing his hands and switched off the water. Grabbing a handful of paper towels, he dried off his hands. "You've got more stones than most of the guys I've seen here Hirano-san. Most of 'em strip off all their identity that doesn't fit into the mold that the 'cool guys' are expected to fill. Like those pricks." He jerked a thumb at the forms on the floor who were just starting to stir. Finishing, he chucked the used towels in the garbage and headed for the door, motioning for Kohta to follow.

"Er, where are you going?" Kohta asked. Denya turned around to face him with a mischievous look.

"I'm off to tell the nurse that some madman brutally assaulted several students in the washroom. You didn't happen to see the nut did you?" Kohta's eyes widened and a grin slid across his face as he shook his head.

"Sorry, I didn't see hide or hair of him. Here's hoping they find him before anyone else gets hurt." Denya only nodded earnestly.

"Da, here's hoping." Slinging his backpack over his shoulder, he began heading down the hall to the nurses' office, but Kohta called out behind him.

"Hold up, you still haven't explained this to me. Why did you save my ass? You must have seen a dozen beatings like that, on all sorts of students. Why help me?" Denya turned around, backpack hanging off one shoulder.

"Listen Hirano-san, you didn't fold like them. You're yourself still, da? You kept true to yourself and you haven't yielded to the social pressure. Most kids here conform as soon as they can just to be part of the crowd. You're unique, and sure other people may hate it, but I think a good deal of 'em are jealous of you." Kohta laughed at this.

"Jealous? Of me?" Kohta shook his head in disbelief. "If you think they're jealous of lonely little old me then you're crazy."

"They're jealous because you beat them in that way. You didn't bend, didn't yield. They whored out to the system. And now all they can do is give you a good beating to try and relieve their jealousy. You've got guts Hirano-san, and like that. Besides, it felt good to give those ass-holes a good lesson in minding their manners." He chuckled lightly and rounded the corner to climb the stairs to the third floor. "I've gotta fly, but I'll probably see you later. Bye, and as always, have a nice day." He took off up the steps, but was stopped before he made it to the top.

"Hey Denya-san?" Denya turned his head to see Kohta at the bottom of the stairs.

"Da?"

"Call me Kohta." Then he was gone down the hall. Denya shouldered his backpack and made his way towards the class.

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><p>It was that night, once classes were out of the way, that Denya took a step back to analyze his situation. Despite his intentions, he was rapidly spiralling back into the social world that he'd been trying to stay away from. Of course now the question was: <em>Is this really such a bad thing after all?<em> All of Denya's optimism regarding his plan to stay low had gone out the window weeks ago when the grating reality of a year of perpetual boredom had sunk in. And now he'd just made a friend in Kohta Hirano, which was not the ideal way to keep under the radar.

But the fact remained that if he just ditched Kohta for the sake of his own comfort, he would be just as much of an asshole as the punks he'd dropped that afternoon. Collapsing back into his bed, Denya began fiddling with the little pocket knife he'd found on the street a week ago. It was only a little three inch blade folding out of the handle, but it was fine enough, and Denya carried it in his pocket with him and often played with it to keep his hands busy. _Click, _blade in. _click, _blade out. Click in, click out. Click in, click out.

He sighed deep and slapped himself across the face. What the hell was he thinking; of_ course _he wasn't going to ditch Kohta, not after he'd pulled his bacon out of the fire and everything. He snapped the blade shut with a hissing escaped breath and flung himself off the bed to begin pacing around the dorm.

In this case, his social anonymity was a joke now. He was going to emerge from the shadows on the wrong side of the fence, and Denya didn't like to do things half-assed. If he was doing this, it would be all the way.

_Click_ in, _click_ out. Denya doubted Takashi would care, he was a rare decent sort, but he would doubtlessly be attracting plenty of less-appealing attention. If he wasn't with the crowd, he'd be against it, and the crowd was good at making you regret whatever the hell you did that they did not like.

Little did Denya know that soon enough his problems would lie with a more dangerous mob than a gaggle of sneering students.

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><p>Actually, the situation went almost completely opposite of what Denya had expected. He'd been expecting bullies and sport-jocks to be hustling him for money, knocking him over in the hall, spreading rumors about him, that sort of thing. Instead he found most of the students trying to go out of their way to avoid him. They cleared before him in the halls and yielded the water fountain to him. Hell, he went in the bathroom once and scared a kid so bad he bolted out of the washroom with his fly wide open.<p>

When Denya raised this strange behaviour to Kohta, he merely laughed and pointed out that his reputation of single-handedly wiping the floor with three big jocks was superseding his reputation as a helper of the downtrodden.

So in that end, Denya was feared. As time passed and no one else was found in a pile in the bathroom, his reputation began to die down. And eventually people just began to ignore him, not interesting in provoking him in the least. Which was exactly what Denya wanted in the first place.

A week later, Denya lay in his bed, thinking back on his status. He had one damn good friend and a few other good acquaintances. His marks were good and he was very well invisible to the public's eyes. New kids joined, made asses of themselves, and took the fire instead of him. He was five months through his year and he could already imagine the crisp air of the farm when he got back. Reflecting on this, Denya smiled. Life was good.

By the time tomorrow came, he'd be looking back on that day with envy.

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><p><em>AN: Yes, I know that inserting an OC into a canon cast is often a recipe for disaster, but give a guy a chance! I'll be writing from the canon characters perspectives as well, I'm trying to integrate Denya with them smoothly, not center everything around him. So please, read and review, especially review! I slave over chapter two as we speak, or as I type, so if you like this have no worries, more is on the way!_

_~JSF _


	2. Chapter 2

****_A/N: My eternal thanks to MarshalZhukov and Draco38! Marshal for being a great beta-reader, and draco for writing a damn fine HOTD story which you are ALL obligated to go read. _

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><p><strong>Running From the DEAD<strong>

**By JSF16**

**Chapter Two**

No one ever expects the world to end today. That's always an event set aside for tomorrow, or some other less-specific day. People talk about it, they prepare, they spend hundreds of dollars on MRE's and bottled water, and when it actually happens, they are completely unprepared.

Denya had trained for a long time. Papa was a very down-to-earth man and was hell-bent on not having his son being unable to protect himself. He'd taught Denya quite a few things, including several skills that Denya appreciated, but couldn't think of a time he'd really have to utilize these skills, a doubt he'd voiced to his father several times. Denya had no idea that on that day he would be eating those words, one bitter mouthful at a time.

It started off like any other day, just like all apocalyptic days should. Denya got up, ate breakfast, attended his morning classes, and had lunch. He talked with Takashi, traded arguments with Saya, and chatted some with Kohta. And then headed off for chemistry class. Just like another other lazy high school day.

Chemistry was interesting, or at least it should have been. Mikio-sensei was far from the most exciting teacher in the academy, and on this day he seemed like someone had just told him he was never going to have enough money to retire on and would be teaching surly high school brats for the rest of his days. In an ironic sense of fortune, that morbid future wouldn't stretch out for too much longer.

Denya was in a semi-focused state, drifting between dragging his pencil across his pad of paper in random squiggles and jotting down semi-comprehensible notes, in Russian of course. He'd be damned if any half-baked asshole was going to cheat off of him. He leaned back in his rickety wooden chair and sighed. He didn't want to be here today, he was just done. He'd woken up drowsy and now, with the hot sun shining through the windows and lazily calling out to him, he just wanted to go outside and relax. Read a book; watch a movie, anything besides listening to some old raven gab on about bases and acids.

He had a window seat, at least that was something notable. His gaze slowly drifted out towards the sun-baked ground below, half-closed. The heat rising off the pavement below made squiggles in the air, causing the image to warp as if reality was shaking apart. Stifling a yawn, Denya lazily scanned over what the school yard revealed to him. No one was out yet of course. Except, except for a single person.

A solitary shape walked around the corner, slowly ambling into Denya slice of view. Nothing unusual of course, this was a school and that was school grounds. But Denya couldn't help but stare at him, at the way he walked. It wasn't so much of a walk as it was a shuffle, or a stagger even. Denya cocked his head slightly at the odd sight. There was no pattern to his movements, just an almost random mix of jerky uncoordinated movements. His arms hung limply at his side, just dangling there like the muscles were gone.

Suddenly his head turned towards the school as if someone had called him. And then he began to shuffle for the academy entrance, much quicker now, as if with a purpose although his spasmic walking remained. Denya gave him a small frown as he vanished out of his range of vision, but then dismissed the thought; if he were to tell papa about half of the weird shit he'd seen Japanese do, he probably would have been laughed out the door.

But he couldn't dismiss the small, urging, nagging feeling on his mind right now. Some tiny part of him deep down that was urging him. _That wasn't right! _He tried to blow it off, to focus on the teacher, but to no avail. With a slightly annoyed sigh he turned to look back out the window. And his heart nearly stopped at what he saw.

More of them, more people like him. That same strange, staggering walk carried them across the open pavement and towards the academy entrance. Silently they moved, random and uncoordinated, but clearly with a purpose, a purpose that evaded Denya but sent a chill down his spine none the less. Five, six, nine, ten, fifteen, over twenty more of them came lurching around the brick and towards the entrance, crossing the open ground one-by-one until the last of them vanished from his sight, and into the school.

As the last one passed, Denya felt a feeling in his gut like a hammer striking home. For some inexplicable reason he felt that he was in a coffin, and that the final nail had just been hammered into place with a _bang!_

"Class dismissed. Remember that there is a test on Monday, so be sure to study over the weekend. Or cram it all in Sunday evening, whatever suits you best." Mikio-sensei dismissed them haggardly, like he could barely manage the thought of teaching yet another class before the day was over. The other students were relieved, and packed up their books and stuffed their backpacks in a hurry. Denya moved quickly too, shoving binders and textbooks away. He had an sick feeling in his gut that screamed something bad was about to happen, and Denya didn't like to doubt his gut. He packed up and moved out of the class and quick as he could, an urgency building up in him to get out of the class and somewhere safer.

_Where? Where should I go? What's the danger? _His gut refused to answer, but the feeling remained. Maybe Denya could skip this class, claim he felt sick or something. The other students brushed past, chatting animatedly, like nothing in the word was wrong.

Denya pushed through them, picking up his pace. His dorm, he had to get to his dorm. He would be safe there, safe from whatever was about to happen. The voice in his head got louder; the gnawing in his gut became more and more pronounced. Denya pushed a student aside, rounded the corner in a hurry. And then it happened.

A scream rang out from down the hall, bringing all conversation to a standstill as everyone turned their heads to see what was going on. Another horrified scream rent the air, then another, and another. A gaggle of panic-crazed students stumbled around the corner, terror lighting their eyes.

"Outta the way, outta the way!" A boy yelped as he plunged into the crowd, shoving and pushing surprised students out of the way. Another one tore past Denya, then two more. A girl charged past with something red and sticky soaking her shoulder. _Is that blood? _Denya questioned. He held out his arms in front of the fleeing kids, trying to slow them down.

"Whoa there, hold up! What the hell's going on?" No one stopped, they just shoved him back into the rest of the stunned students gathered. Slightly annoyed now, Denya reached forward and plucked one of the running kids off his feet by his collar. Swinging him around, he held him good and tight by his shoulders and looked him dead in the eye. "Listen, calm down man. Now tell me, what the hell is going on? What's got everyone freaked out?" He said slowly and calmly, hiding the growing fear in himself.

The student, who could have only been fifteen, stared at him like he was possessed. His eyeballs swung around in his skull desperately, searching for a way out. Panicked, he locked eyes with Denya's stern blue gaze again and pointed down the hall in terror.

"Th-th-them! They're insane man, out of their fucking minds! They just walked in and started, the-they-oh fuck, run for it man!" With a sudden new surge of strength, the boy wrestled out of Denya's grip and bolted off down the hall. Denya turned to see what he was pointing at just as They burst around the corner.

It was Them, the people he'd seen outside. Students by the look of it, although he recognized a few teachers among them. Stumbling around the corner, arms outstretched as if for balance. The students let out a collective gasp as They righted themselves around to face the students. At the sight of them, They let out a deep, gasping moan and lurched forward simultaneously.

Denya finally got a good look at them, and he quickly began to see what was wrong with them. Their faces were pale, much paler than they should have been. Their mouths hung slack in an eternally hungry gape. Their arms, contrary to before, where stretched out in front of them, reaching, groping, yearning for something, or someone.

But what really struck Denya were two things. The first was the ragged bloody wound in each of them, mostly on their arms or neck. Ripped and torn, almost like a bite of some kind. But Denya couldn't think of any animal with a bite like that. And then there were their eyes. Lifelessly, purely lifeless. No spark, no light dwelled in them. Just empty darkness, the empty darkness of a corpse. Denya took a reflexive step back along with the others, a mixture of a horror and curiosity on their faces.

"Tomitake-san, what the fuck are you doing man?" A student stepped forward, an annoyed look etched on his face. "Are you out of your fucking mind? They're gonna suspend your ass for this man, pulling this kind of bullshit." He stepped forward to one of Them and roughly grabbed his arm. Denya wanted to call out to him, wanted to warn him, but it was too late.

Before anyone could do a thing, Tomitake, or what was Tomitake, grabbed his friend's arm, pulled it into his open mouth, and sank his teeth into it. There was a moment of shocked silence, and then an agonized scream pierced the air as the student clutched his wounded arm and pulled back. But it had a strong grip; it pulled the student in towards his open jaws as the others swarmed in. He screamed and tried to pull away, but now more arms were grabbing for him, wrapping around arms and taking handfuls of clothing. They pulled him in and without a moment's hesitation began to take great bites out of his flesh, ignoring his flailing and shrieking.

The trance was broken; students let out horrified screams and began to run, stampeding down towards the opposite end of the hall. The sound seemed to attract the creatures, for they immediately let out a collective moan and rose to pursue in their shambling way. Denya felt numb, and failed to move. That is, until one of the things reached forward and grabbed his shoulder.

Panic drove Denya into action. Reflexively he grabbed the arm in a strong grasp and wrenched the wrist wickedly. He heard the bones crack like firewood, and he pulled back and followed up with a solid side-kick directly into its ribs. He heard them snap, heard them break like sticks. But it didn't stop; it just raised its damaged hand up at him again, a deathly moan straining from the back of its throat.

Fear gripped Denya, he leaped back, staring at the thing. _That should have stopped anyone._ Another one, no, two more were moving for him, arms reaching out, jaws open in greedy anticipation.

"Shit." Terror jolted him into movement; he ducked under the groping arms and swept their legs from under them with his leg. They fell, and Denya turned and bolted down the hall, throwing his backpack aside.

Students were in a panic, clogging the halls and swarming into classrooms for safety. They didn't know or care what they were doing; they were acting out of panic terror. And as more of Them seemed to be staggering up every flight of stairs in the building, they only broke down into greater chaos. Some students stepped over the younger ones, trampling them as they fled for the windows and tried to climb out, only to get shoved by people behind them and falling to their deaths three stories below.

Denya ignored them; he was running for his dorm. He had to get there; there he would be able to help himself. He needed to protect himself and his friends, if they were alive. His mind-set on an objective, he scanned for danger, averting delays as much as he could. He was not Denya Mikhailovitch Kondrashin the student now; he was Denya Mikhailovitch Kondrashin the soldier, son of Senior Sergeant Mikhail Petrovitch Kondrashin. He was a soldier, a warrior. He was on his mission. Even then his father's final words to him played through his head. _Stay strong Denya, the job is yours now. Protect yourself, protect those you love. Protect them until death, because that is the mark of a true man. Fight hard and fight well my son. Be wise, be strong, be safe._

* * *

><p>Denya spun into the dorm and slammed the door shut. Clicking the lock into place, he quickly surveyed his room. No one else was there, his roommate Akasaka would have been in physics right now, on the other end of the academy. Denya hoped he was safe, and then moved over to his bed.<p>

Reaching into the pillow case, Denya fished around inside for a moment before coming across something hard and rough. Wrapping his hands around the handle, he pulled the whole object out from its hiding place and, without a moment's hesitation, slid the loop on the sheath onto his belt.

"_So Denya-san? What do you think?" _

"_Uh, well, can you tell me what it is?" _

"_This my friend, is a Ghurkha kukri made by Cold Steel, _the world's finest producer_ of cutting-edge cutlery. And that blade you see before you is one of the most, if not the most, effective blade in existence for chopping and hacking." Kohta explained happily, leaving Denya observing the odd-looking weapon in his hands. It had a one-handed handle made of some very tough and gripp-y material, perfect size for his hand. _

_Coming out of the handle was the oddest-looking machete blade Denya had ever seen, a foot-long downwards curving shape swooping down, expanding in thickness near the end before narrowing out to the point. All-in-all it looked a lot like a boomerang with an edge of the inside, a damn sharp edge Denya noted as he slid his finger across it. "Well, it's certainly a damn cool looking blade, and its looks well-made. Thanks Kohta-san." Denya looked up at his friend, an uneasy look in his eyes. "But why did you get me it?" Kohta rolled his eyes and grinned. _

"_Well, I saw it on Cold Steel's online catalogue and I asked myself 'Who would this look absolutely badass on?' and I thought of you. Like it?" Denya nodded slowly. _

"_Of __course I like it, but, uh, what do I do with it? I mean this looks like it's made for cutting off heads and arms, or trees. And I don't think there's any place 'round here to play the Russian lumberjack." He gave Kohta a warning look. "And I don't care how much of assholes the kids here are, I am not going down in history as the Fujimi Academy killer." Fortunately, this only brought a laugh out of Kohta. _

"_Don't be stupid, if we were going to lay down the law like that I'd have gotcha a Smith and Wesson!" He laughed again and pointed at the blade. "But seriously Denya-san, do __guys even __need a reason to own a badass blade like that? We're guys dude; it's our calling in life! Girls buy shoes and clothes, we buy guns and knives. Do we need them? Hell no, but its damn fun!" He gave Denya wink. "Besides, who knows when you might need it, better ready for that day then not huh?" _

Denya had used it maybe twice, one to cut a pomegranate and one to slice a particularly disturbing manga in half. Oh if only Kohta could see him now. _Shit, Kohta. _The thought of his friend's danger brought Denya to life, he made sure the kukri was secure on his belt, and then he reached down to get one more thing, one very important thing.

Laying down flat on his back, he slid under his bed and padded down the bottom boards. _Ah, here it is._ Knocking one of them, he heard the odd _thunk_ sound it made. Then with a much more powerful bash of the fist, the panel dropped completely. Denya grabbed it off his chest and squirmed back out from under his bed.

Standing up he took the thick panel and gave it one good shake over his bed. With a muffled _thud_, its contents hit his comforter. Hands shaking, Denya reached down and scooped up his most precious item.

Still as shiny as the day papa had given it to him all that time ago in this very room before he left for Russia. The Tokarev TT-30 was everything his father was: stocky, simple, deadly, efficient. Next to it lying where they'd fallen were six clips of ammunition, each containing seven rounds. Hiding the weapon had been one of Denya's more challenging problems, but he'd managed to keep it hidden until he hollowed out the panel. With trembling hands, he picked it up.

"_But Papa, why do I need your old service pistol?" _

"_Because my son, you must protect yourself. Listen my boy, this world has changed. Men will do anything for the paper in your pocket; they will peel you apart along with everything and everyone you hold dear if they can just get some satisfaction. I have done all in my power to protect you, but I can do no further. It's up to you now my son; I've done all I can to ready you for the battles you will face, now I equip you for them. Stay strong Denya, the job is yours now. Protect yourself, protect those you love. Protect them until death, because that is the mark of a true man. Fight hard and fight well my son."_

With liquid smoothness, Denya grabbed a clip from the bed. He slid it into the butt with a firm _click._ Pulling the slide back, he let it snap forward, chambering a round. With a final click he thumbed the safety off and scooped up the rest of the ammunition and put it in his pocket.

As he approached the shut door to the evil outside, kukri in his right hand and tokarev in his left, his papa's final words echoed through his head.

"_Be wise, be strong, be safe." _Denya fingers brushed the gleaming doorknob, then wrapped around it firmly. Then, with a final exhale, Denya shoved the door open and took off down the hall to find his friends.

* * *

><p>Takashi's mind was boiling, a hundred different emotions overflowing and mixing with each other. Anger, terror, and grief all mixed into one writhing mess. Part of him was still struggling to take in all in. The dead were stalking the earth, ripping apart anyone in their path. The school was in complete chaos, students screaming and running for their lives, only to fall right into Their grasp.<p>

_Hisashi's dead. You killed Hisashi. _His former friend's face was still burned into his mind; the tortured look on his face as he fought desperately to keep his humanity, the pleading of his final words as a human. Then the hammer hitting home in his mind, the final blow that struck the nail of realization home as Hisashi vanished, leaving behind a slavering beast. He remembered so clearly the adrenaline surge, the solemn acceptance of what he had to do. Rei turned away as the bat swung, she didn't watch as the boy she had loved was put down like an animal.

But this was all playing off at the far reaches of Takashi's mind, just in the corner of his mental image. It was there, all the pain and terror. But he couldn't let it bother him now, he had to protect Rei and himself, they had to get out of there.

The feet clomped noisily on the floor as they ventured down the empty halls. The emptiness of the halls sent a chill down Takashi's spine, the thick silence was almost ghoulish and unnatural. Normally the halls should have been flooded with students, chatting, getting a drink, moving from class to class, or just hanging out. Now all that remained to show there'd ever been life there was scattered textbooks and backpacks spilled across the hall, dropped by their owners when they ran from Them.

Here and there, there were blood smears and blotches painting the floors and walls, grim symbols of what terror had fallen on the school. Takashi gripped his bat tighter, the rough metal texture giving him a small amount of strength.

"Where are we going?" Rei broke the silence. Takashi had been thinking off a plan to escape, and he'd formed a rough idea in his mind.

"We get to the parking lot and get a car. Providing traffic's not too backed up, we'll try and get in touch with your parents. Your dad will probably have a good idea where to go, a police checkpoint of refuge or something. If it's too crowded on the roads we'll stay as close to the road as possible and go on foot." Even as he spoke Takashi felt doubt in his words. _Is this a local disaster? Or is this happening all over the city? _From the fragmented sounds they'd heard over Rei's phone, the situation didn't sound good outside.

A low, guttural moan brought them both to a stop, reminding Takashi that the situation inside wasn't looking up either. Raising the bat, Takashi bent closer to Rei and whispered, "I think it's around the corner, we both go wide around on three, okay?" Rei didn't say anything, just nodded firmly. Takashi couldn't help but feel a surge of pride for her, at how quickly she adapted to the situation. _That's my girl._ He thought warmly before going back to the job at hand. Holding up three fingers, he counted down, tensing up as he did.

_Three, two, one, now! _Takashi leaped wide around the corner, bat held high. Rei was behind him, holding her makeshift spear.

A single one of Them turned around at the commotion, eyeing them with lifeless eyes. A fresh moan rose in its throat and it stretched out ghoulish hands forth as it made for them with a sudden lunge.

Rei moved first, jabbing forward with her spear and imbedding the tip in the monsters abdomen, stopping it dead in its tracks. Takashi moved simultaneously, dodging around its groping arms and coming up behind it. Bat held high, he took aim and swung it right into the back of its skull with a resounding _crack! _"Bite it fucker." He said.

The creature stopped moving and whining as it skull caved in under the heavy impact. Lifeless, it slumped forward further up Rei's spear, who pulled it out with distaste. Then stepping forward she shoved the tip down into it smashed head, just for good measure. Breathing moderately, she looked up at a panting Takashi and cracked a thin smile.

'"Bite it fucker?' What the hell does that mean?" Takashi stood up and shouldered the bat, returning the grin.

"Dunno, but it felt right to say. We pressing on?"

"After you." Rei motioned him forward. As Takashi stepped over the corpse and down the hall, he saw something out of the corner of his eye. Turning his head, he found himself looking out the window and across the outside air into the floor below and ahead of them. Another student, but he wasn't running or panicking like the others.

Instead he looked quite in control of himself, a perpetual ready stance soaked into his every footstep, his head constantly swivelling around. Takashi frowned, he recognized that dirty blonde hair, but the face was so hard to make out from this angle. "Takashi? What is it?" Rei asked. Takashi pointed at the figure walking perhaps fifty yards away.

"There, through the window on the floor beneath us, see? Who is that, I can't get a good look at his face." _The tall frame, the loose hair, the school uniform, it's all so familiar, but I can't seem to place it-wait a second._ The students head swivelled again, this time giving them a full view of his face. Rei let out a small gasp when she picked up his identity.

"It's Kondrashin-san, and he's still alive!" Takashi nodded, and for some reason he wasn't really surprised. Denya had always been calm and level-headed; it almost seemed natural for him to survive any sort of disaster. He was also holding something in his hand, something small that Takashi couldn't quite make out. Denya suddenly snapped his head up and looked around. He must have seen some of Them, for he quickly increased his pace down the hall, rounding a corner out of sight. Takashi and Rei stood there for a while, staring at where he'd vanished. "Should we go get him?" Rei asked.

Takashi frowned. _Should we? We're not great friends or anything, but it seems like the right thing to do. _Takashi looked at Rei uneasily, then back at where Denya had gone. _Should we?_ "Takashi?" Rei interrupted. He looked back at her.

"Yeah, let's go get 'im." It looks like he'd heading for the faculty room, where they keep the keys for the vehicles. If we head down a level and go left we'll probably catch up to him."

"Sounds like a plan then, let's go." Rei hefted her spear and moved ahead towards the staircase, keeping her eyes out for any more of Them as she went. Takashi followed up behind, bat at the ready.

* * *

><p>Cutting off the first of Their heads was easier than Denya had expected. Perhaps the disease, or plague, whatever the hell it was, made their bone structure weaker. Or perhaps the kukri was just a damn good blade. Whatever the reason, Denya was almost surprised at how little resistance there was.<p>

He swung inwards and flicked his wrist at the last moment, catching its neck in the inward curve of the blade. With the familiar sound of steel going through meat, its head flew off with a fleshy noise and hit the ground softly. Headless, the corps stood dumb for a moment, then fell too, blood spilling from the stump and pooling around it on the floor.

_Aren't I supposed to feel something? _Denya held the kukri in slightly shaky hands, watching his handiwork bleed before him. It wasn't the bloodiest or goriest thing he'd ever seen, not by a long shot. He was a farmboy after all; he'd killed and butchered enough chickens, pigs, cows, and other cute, lovable animals to become the number one antagonist of any Disney movie.

_But shouldn't I feel something? I just cut off the head of someone, or what was someone, without hesitation. _Wasn't he supposed to feel something? Where was the horror, the disgust, the sheer revoltingness of the situation that was supposed to remind him he was human? His hands were shaking, but that wasn't surprising considering what was going on. He was breathing heavily, but again that was nothing notable.

_Is there something wrong with me? That I can just do this and not feel anything? _Denya trembled at the thought that he might be completely numb to taking human life. _No, stop it. They're not people anymore, they just look like them. Now shut up, man up, and do your job. _He rebuked himself, shaking his head clear of those thoughts. _This is a job, they are the targets. Find Kohta, get out of here, and eliminate any hostiles that impede the mission's progress. _Denya's head cleared, his emotions were shoved down beneath the cold military logic that entered his mind. _You are trained for this, prepared for this. Now do it. That wasn't the last one you will have to end, so belt up Kondrashin. _

A ghost of a smile crossed Denya's face; papa was still there egging him on, even all these thousands of miles away. _And I'm not one to cross papa._ Hefting the kukri, Denya stepped over the thing on the ground and pressed on, he had work to do.

_A stock, yes, I need a stock. Now what do I need to do? _They were slamming at the door, moaning like the damned, not an inaccurate comparison actually.

* * *

><p>"Hirano-san! Stop dicking around and get something done!" Kohta didn't answer, he was too busy getting something done. <em>Ah yes, wooden boards and padding, perfect! Now where's a saw, there it is! <em>A possessed grin filling his mind and face, Kohta sawed through wooden boards to a more suitable length. "Hirano…" Saya was actually sounding worried now, an odd thing to hear from her.

_Padding in-between the wooden boards for a butt, now duct tape it all horizontally along the firearm, attach a sufficient sight and lock 'n' load. _"Hirano!" Kohta's attention was drawn to Saya's horrified scream as They broke down the door with a crash and poured inside. He lifted the modified nail gun and braced the newly-built stock against his shoulder. _Headshots only, targets are within effective range. Weapons free. _

_ Pop! _The first nail hissed from the gun and imbedded itself in the nearest creatures head with smooth efficiency. _Target down. _Kohta thought in triumph as it sank to the floor in expiration. _Pop, pop, pop! _Three more nails, three more of Them fell with nails protruding from their skulls.

_Targets down, anymore coming? _Kohta held position and waited for a moment, but no more came through. A fierce grin lit his face as an energy he'd never felt before coursed through his veins. He felt strong, powerful, alive.

"Takagi-san, see those extra nails and power drill? Toss 'em in a bag and bring them along." Saya looked incredulously at Kohta, and then erupted.

"What? You're nobody, who are you to order me around?" But her fire died when she saw Kohta, to be more exact, the maddened grin on Kohta's face. Of course until he destroyed it.

"Pretty please with sugar on top?" He said almost childishly.

_She's so pretty when she gets angry. _Kohta thought happily. And in that moment, he couldn't really find anything wrong with this situation. He felt like he fitted in, like this was his calling in life. Armed with a jury-rigged gun against a dangerous horde with a beautiful girl at his side. Was life really so bad? _Oh, I hope Denya's fine. _A moment of worry crossed his mind, but he soon blocked it out. _Who am I kidding, if a fat otaku like me can survive, then that boy will do fine. Damn I hope I see him again. _

"Come on Hirano-san, let's move it before more of those things arrive." Saya said coldly, tossing him the bag of supplies and heading out the door. Kohta snatched it up and pocketed two extra magazines of nails.

"Coming Takagai-san." Kohta leveled his newfound gun and moved up behind her, strangely content for the first time in quite a while.

* * *

><p>There were more methods to eliminating the threat of Them asides from decapitation. This was obvious of course and handy when the act of taking the head off was not an option. <em>The primary threat is the bite; the secondary threat is their grasp. Remove the secondary threat and the primary threat will greatly be reduced in efficiency. <em>That is how a soldier operates, and that was how Denya operated. Analyze the threat, deduce the most effective form of combat, and then act upon that knowledge.

Denya jumped back from the clumsy lunge of another one of Them, bringing the kukri down on its outstretched arm as he did. There was no resistance, the dead limb came off at the wrist and flopped to the floor, spilling blood.

The undead took no notice of this injury and pressed forward, making another grab for the Russian who ducked under and drove the wide tip of his blade into the thigh. Spinning around behind the thing, Denya took a step back and watched his handiwork as the corpse, unable to support its weight, collapsed to the ground. Denya grinned as he took a step forward.

"Quite the sorry little mudak aren't you? Well it's nothing personal mind you, although I doubt you can care about my motive." Raising the kukri, Denya gave it the little kick with his foot. "Okay, I lied, it is a bit personal. You stink like fucking hell." He stabbed down, piercing the skull through. At once it stopped moaning and the body accepted a death long-since pursuing it.

_I wonder if it's healthy to talk to things before you kill them. _Denya pondered. _Am I going crazy? Papa never talked about PTSD, maybe this is the beginning symptoms? _He shook his head mirthfully. _Who cares, I'd rather be laughing my way into the madhouse then sobbing in a corner. _When Denya had asked papa how you killed someone, he stared at him and answered plainly.

_"You don't kill anyone. You put down an animal, you eliminate a threat, you drop a target. The moment you start thinking of them as people you are done. Call them fascists, call them dogs, call them anything but 'him' or 'her.' It's only 'it' or 'they' or 'them.' Make them as un-human as you can, for no one can kill a person and retain their sanity." _

Denya followed this advice as best he could. And it helped that they didn't scream, cry or show any emotion. They were just cardboard cut outs, cheap mockeries of life and nothing more. He was doing the living world a favor by getting rid of these gross crimes against nature. And if he was doing such a good service, why not make this as pleasant as possible?

Two more ahead were lumbering towards him, arms reaching out. _I wonder how they see anyway, is it vibration? Sound? Smell? I wonder if they can still see. _Denya walked towards them, noting as they changed course to follow him. Raising the kukri, he hacked off the nearest arm of the first one, and then brought it back up for a conclusive stab through the eye. _Does the origin of this reside in the brain? Is this a parasite or some sort of a virus? _As it collapsed, Denya side-stepped the lunge of the second one and swung the blade around him and into its neck.

Through its neck actually, the abomination dropped to the ground while its head rolled away, leaking blood. _Not as much blood as I would expect from cutting someone's head off, I guess there must be no circulation. But without blood-flow, how does the brain still send commands? _

His thoughts were cut off by the moaning of more of them as another dozen spilled into the hall behind him. He turned and gave them a look like they'd just broken into his dorm. "You know, you bastards are really damn consistent. One would think being dead would make you slow the fuck down, but you're probably doing more activity than when you bastards were alive!" He shook his head and turned around to run down the hall. "_Poka, _assholes." Then he took off running down the hall. _Objective one: Get Kohta. Objective two: Get to the faculty room, grab keys for a vehicle. Objective three: Get the hell out of here. _

He rounded the corner, went through a door and shut it behind him. Turning around he found himself three feet from six more of Them blocking the hallway, and very interested in what had just caused such a commotion. "_Chyort voz'mi." _He muttered under his breath.

No time to think, just to react. The first one of them grabbed at him, a hungry moan escaping its throat. Grabbing its right arm, Denya yanked it forward and drove the kukri into its skull. Its moaning stopped and Denya shoved it back into the advancing group. Two of them fell under their comrade while the other three came at him at once.

But now Denya had an opening, he dashed forward and leaped over the fallen ones to his left, cutting down another as he went. And then he felt the iron grip of one of them snatching his foot out of the air, and bringing him crashing to the ground with a yell. "Shit!" He hit the ground hard, almost knocking the air out his lungs, and sending the kukri clattering out of his grip down the hall.

He reached forward, fingertips straining for the black matte handle. But he felt the inexorable pull of it pulling him away, back towards its mouth. A moment of panic split him; he screamed and kicked out as hard as he could. His foot collided with its mouth, smashing teeth and cracking bone.

Twisting himself around onto his back, he saw his foot just inches from the shattered bleeding mouth of the thing. Even worse, he saw the other ones staggering for him, mouths wide open and arms outstretched, eager to sink their rancid teeth into his flesh. _Shit, the tokarev! _He remembered the pistol and desperately reached for his pocket.

But it was too late, they were on him. As their cold dead arms reached down for him, as their rotten dead breath wafted over his face, he threw back his head and screamed as the horror of being eaten alive hit him. "Fucking hell, get the fuck away! Back the fuck off _mudak!_ Help!"

_Whack! Crack! _Warm stinking corpses piled onto him, blotting out his vision and engulfing his smell, he screamed, barely noticing the grip on his ankle vanishing.

"Keep calm, I will free you in a moment." A muffled voice said from above. Denya began to get a grip, his blood pounding in his ears like a drum. He suddenly realized that he was covered by two bodies, two dead bodies. His terror spiked again.

"Get them off, get them the fuck off!" He went into a frenzy, shoving the limp corpses off with a sudden rush of berserker strength. Scrambling to his feet, he backed into wall and fell against it, panting heavily as he took the scene in.

They were dead in front of him, skulls crushed by some sort of blunt force. And the wielder of that force stood before him, a wooden kendo bohken held professionally in her hands. Dressed in the Fujimi Academy uniform, she looked quite accepting of her situation. She eyed Denya with a clear-cut sense of duty and concern.

"Are you well? Have you been bitten?" Her icy blue eyes searched him for any sign of a damning bite. Denya took a deep breath and stood up to address her properly.

"Nyet, I am fine, and I'm very glad to came along when you did, thank you." He bowed his head to her, then reached down to retrieve his kukri, then stood up to face her. "Forgive me, we have not been properly introduced." He bowed again, "I am Denya Mikhailovitch Kondrashin, I was a transfer student to the academy from Russia." She nodded and bowed in turn.

"Well-met Kondrashin-san, I am Saeko Busujima, captain of the women's kendo club."

"I-is it safe now?" A new face from around the corner turned Denya's head, but Saeko reminded impassive.

"Yes, they are all finished." Saeko said, and from around the corner stepped Shizuka Marikawa, the school nurse. She had her ever-confused look glazed across her face, although it seemed even more pronounced than ever. She eyed Saeko's handiwork with the curious, although slightly disturbed, expression.

"Oh my, are you quite sure they are dead?" She asked.

"Positive, Shizuka-sensei." Saeko said as Shizuka noticed Denya.

"Oh, I remember you. You were the one to report that dreadful fight in the washroom awhile ago." She smiled sweetly. "Such a kind boy." Denya didn't bother to think about the irony in that statement, instead turning to Saeko.

"I take it you are heading for the faculty room as well?" Saeko nodded.

"Indeed we are, thankfully we heard your screams and came to help. Not a moment too soon either." Denya smiled wryly.

"Da, your timing was most appropriate." He motioned to her sword. "Kendo eh? I guess that class turned out to be more useful than you could have imagined." She smiled in return.

"Yes, and I take it your contraband is likewise serving a higher purpose than was intended." She nodded to the Tokarev stuffed in his pocket.

"Da, you could say that." Denya grinned, and then looked back down the way he'd came. "There are more behind me, we should move out at once."

"Indeed, let's. You take the right, I'll take left." Saeko said and moved down the hall, Denya falling to her side. Only Shizuka seemed hesitant, eyeing Denya's pistol nervously.

"Wh-why do you have gun Kondrashin-kun?" Denya rolled his eyes, but Saeko spoke before he could. "Why does not matter Shizuka-sensei, let us just be glad he has it." Shizuka opened her mouth like she was about to say more, but thought otherwise and clammed up instead. Falling in behind them, she tried to keep up as they moved through the halls of the dead.

* * *

><p>Saya could scream remarkably loud when she wanted to. Denya, Saeko and Shizuka nearly jumped out of their skins at the horrified shriek.<p>

"That way." Saeko pointed out before charging down the hall, wooden practise sword raised high. Denya followed right behind her, kukri ready to swing. A grin spread over Denya's face as the rush of adrenaline hit him and the excitement of a fight filled his mind.

"Ya Spetznaz!" He yelled, before bringing the kukri down on the nearest one of them, sending the head whirling off with a spurt of blood. Wheeling around the corner, Shizuka timidly blundering after them, they saw Them, over a dozen. In the center of the small trophy room was Kohta, wielding what looked like a nail gun, and Saya, holding a bag and looking quite nervous.

Denya almost didn't recognize Kohta, gone was the usual timid-ness and fear. He had a grim look on his face as he dropped two more of them with quiet _puffs _from the nail gun.

"The magazines nearly out, Takagi-san, pass me another one!" He yelled, but Saya wasn't listening. She was backed up against the trophy wall, wide-eyed and quivering in fear as one of them stalked towards her, moaning for her meat.

"Ge-ge-get back! Get away from me you sick unnatural freak!" She screamed at it, frantically throwing trophies at from the wall behind her in a useless attempt to stop it

"Takagi-san!" Kohta yelled, but he was too busy with a group of Them.

"Busujima-san, get Takagi-san!" Denya said, but Saeko was already beating and crushing a path through the undead towards her. Denya followed suit, slashing and hacking towards Saya. But even as he ducked under one of Their arms and plunged his blade through its skull, he could see it was already on Saya. Saeko was too far away, and cold fear hit his veins as it reached out its hands to grab her.

But her screaming and the moans of the undead were drowned out under the sudden roaring of a power drill. Chancing a look between blows, Denya saw Takagi, eyes wide-open and hands held in front of her, shoving the shrieking drill bit into its face, sending a shower of blood flying all over her.

More yells, more shouts as more bodies filled the room. Denya barely noticed and later would scarcely remember anything from the fight. His world was consumed by the battle, the movements of his body and those of his opponents filled his mind as a mixture of training and instinct took over him, sending him plowing through Them.

Through it all he caught flashes, glimpses. Kohta, yelling as he desperately reached for another magazine. Saya, face frozen in horror as she held the drill in shaking hands. Saeko, striking them down with the elegance of a dancer, her face calm and concentrated as she put her art to work. Takashi swinging a bat, crushing their skulls in unison with Rei, swinging a homemade spear.

It could have lasted hours for all Denya knew, but in reality it was only minutes. Denya suddenly found himself standing in the midst of dead bodies, blood slicking the floor and smearing the walls. He was breathing hard, trembling as the adrenaline began to exit his system. Blood dripped from his kukri, the drops hitting the floor being the only other sound other than their collective breathing.

The battle was over, Denya lowered his blade and looked around. Saeko grimly observing her handiwork. Kohta still had his nail gun shouldered, a fiery light burning in his eyes that Denya had never seen before. Saya was still up against the wall, trying to control herself and not break down completely. Takashi had an arm around Rei while they took in the death around them. He heard Saeko introducing herself to the others as he looked over to Kohta.

"Kohta-san, you alright my friend?" Denya said. Kohta looked up at him and a look of relief spread across his face.

"Hey, I knew you'd be alright!" He noted the blade in Denya's hand and smirked. "Guess you found a use for my gift after all huh?"

"Da, it's come in handy." Denya said, and then looked over at Saya. "Takagi-san, are you alright?" Saya didn't say anything; she was still staring at the body in front of her, trying to control herself.

"Kondrashin-san? How'd you survive?" Takashi spoke up, shouldering his bat. Denya shrugged.

"I just ran and killed whatever got in the way."

"I see. May I ask you something though?"

"Sure."

"Where'd you get the knife?" Denya smiled at Takashi's question and jerked his head towards Kohta.

"You can thank Kohta-san for that, and for being such an otaku in general. All those hours watching the Military Channel is about to pay off I suspect." Kohta in question was rooting through the bag, looking for extra nails, and paused only long enough to flash them a wicked grin.

"Damn right." He said before going back to the bag, grin widening as he pulled out a fresh magazine of nails and fed them into the gun. Denya turned back to Takashi and Rei.

"What do you know of the rest of the school, is it this bad everywhere?" He said. Takashi gave him a grim look.

"From what I've seen it's like this everywhere. Rei managed to call her dad, only for a few seconds, but it sounded pretty chaotic throughout the city." Takashi said, causing Rei to move closer to him at the mention of her dad. Denya shook his head.

"Well, shit. Now what?" He wandered over to the window, looking out at the scene beneath him. It was spring, the plants were in full blossom and creamy pink petals were everywhere. As were more of Them, dozens of them. They staggered all across the pavement randomly, and Denya couldn't imagine anyone sneaking past –or through- them.

_How do we get to the vehicles? There's too many of them for seven people armed with bats and knives to get through. How are we even to know if there are any keys left, maybe the others got to them all first. And didn't make it. _His thoughts were suddenly and abruptly interrupted by Saya suddenly leaping into a screaming rage.

Denya whirled around, startled at the sudden outburst, and proceeded to watch as Saya Takagi nearly suffered a mental breakdown as all. She erupted over how Kohta addressed Rei, but her anger soon gave way to tears and shaking horror. And as Takashi did his best to console her, Denya could not help but feel disdain for the weeping Saya. _It's only some blood, get over it! _Evidently it showed, for a hand soon alighted on his shoulder.

"This is not the first time you've seen blood I take it." Saeko's calm voice came from behind him. He turned around to face the purple-haired girl and nodded.

"You are correct."

"Then remember that this is her first, and a very traumatic first at that. You can't blame her for nearly breaking down when her classmates begin to devour each other. I'm surprised she's made it this far." She said, but Denya frowned at her logic.

"What about yourself? Or Komuro-san and Miyamoto-san? I doubt you've ever experienced anything near this before." Saeko only gave him a light smile and turned back to watch the spectacle, arms folded.

"You may be surprised at what I've seen. Miyamoto and I have both done extensive fighting sports for much of our lives, so the adjustment is not as drastic. As for Komuro-san, well, men seem to be better at handling this kind of things."

"Perhaps." Was all Denya said.

* * *

><p>They had all finally assembled in the faculty room, and every one of them was transfixed on the television as reports of the world's condition flooded in. Denya felt a pang of bitterness at the report that contact had been lost with Moscow, but the news regarding their more immediate situation worried him far more.<p>

Then the TV crackled, fizzled, and then the connection died completely. Takashi slammed his fist down on the desk angrily.

"Damnit! Why didn't they tell us more?"

"To prevent a panic." Saya said simply. Denya snorted at that.

"I think it's a bit late for that." He said. Saya whirled around at him, furious at having been corrected.

"Telling the nation on TV that we're fucked isn't going to help either!" She hissed out an exasperated sigh, rubbing her hand down her face. "Bakas, listen! Panic turns to chaos, chaos leads to a disruption of order. And if that happens, well, why don't we just hand it all over to the walking corpses?"

Rei was still trying to be hopeful.

"But, this isn't permanent right? I mean the world's got to get back to normal sometime right? The government's got to have this in hand after all." Saya just shook her head grimly.

"Sorry, but that's not going to happen anytime soon." She said, annoying Takashi who asked why she had to be so blunt about it all. As they talked, Denya thought.

_So, it's everywhere. The whole world. In less time that in takes to go to school, the entire world has completely gone to hell in a hand basket. It's George Romero's fantasy out there and we're stuck in the middle of a city of four million people. Shit. _

Saya continued lecturing everyone, comparing it to the Spanish flu epidemic, except that since the infected corpses were reanimated, it didn't have any good reason to ever die out. And the full seriousness of everything hit Denya, and everyone else judging by their faces. _This might be the end of the world. _Denya suddenly felt alone despite the room full of people. A chill ran through him as fear spiked through his body. _We might not be getting out of this alive. _

"Kondrashin-san? You haven't said much, what's your plan?" Denya looked up at Saeko's voice, and shrugged.

"I'm going wherever you're going. It's not like I have a home to go to, or parents to find." He cracked a wry smile. "And the whole 'I am Legend' thing doesn't sit too well with me, I'd rather not go out into the city of the dead by myself." He slipped off the countertop and wandered over to Takashi. "You going to find your parents? I'll go with you. Now, shall we leave?" With a flourish, Denya slipped out his pistol and pulled back the hammer. Immediately Kohta's mouth dropped wide open.

"Tha-that's a Tokarev TT30! Where did you get that, do you have ammo for it? Can I have one?" Denya smiled, not even a zombie apocalypse could damp Kohta's enthusiasm for firearms.

"Nyet Kohta-san, my papa gave this to me when he dropped me off at the academy. I'm not quite sure how he snuck it in, but now I'm rather glad he did."

"But why did your papa give you a gun? Was he crazy?" Kohta said, exasperated. Denya smiled and rolled his eyes towards the ceiling.

"Da, you could say that. He was Spetznaz after all." Kohta's mouth dropped wide open.

"Di-di-did you say he was Spetznaz?"

"I thought you said he was in the military." Said a slightly-confused Takashi. Kohta eagerly turned to answer him.

"Komuro-san, don't you know anything? The Spetznaz are some of Russia's most elite fighting forces-"

"Bakas! Enough!" Saya exploded at them, causing both Kohta and Takashi to shut up, slightly embarrassed looks on their faces. Saya turned to face Denya, a warning look in her eyes. "I don't care how or why you have it, but you better be damn careful with it. Remember this, they're reactive to nothing but sound, so if you decide to go all Bruce Willis on us, you may as well ring the dinner bell." She turned back to face everyone. "Now, do we have a plan or don't we?" Takashi nodded.

"Get to the bus, check on our families and make sure they're safe." He cast Denya an apologetic look. "Sorry we can't go after your father Kondrashin-san." Denya just waved it off.

"Ah, don't worry. If anyone's about to survive this mess, it's papa. Now, shall we go?" Denya said, pocketing the pistol and drawing the kukri. Takashi nodded.

"Yeah, let's go."

* * *

><p>Denya really, really, <em>really <em>hoped they were attracted to sound as much as Saya had said. _If not, we're up shit-creek._ He thought as he Takashi slowly began making his way down the stairs into the horde below. Half of him was scared Takashi would get eaten, and the other half was scared that the new kids they'd picked up would scream and blow the whole thing.

"It's true, they can't see him." Rei whispered behind him. Denya just nodded and wiped the sweat off his forehead. It was so quiet, only the sounds of Them moaning and shuffling around pierced the silence. Takashi was only fifteen feet from the stairs, but it may as well have been a mile. _Come on Takashi, don't freeze up now. _Takashi froze, and then looked around for something. Stooping down low to pick a shoe out of a pool of blood, he looked back at them and mouthed: _Get ready. _Then he turned, arched back his arm, and threw it.

The shoe arced through the air and hit the opposite lockers with a _crash! _And immediately, all of Them turned and began ambling over to the lockers, completely oblivious to the living in their midst.

Relief poured through Denya as Takashi motioned the others forward and stepped through the crowd to the door, pushing it open. Denya and the others quickly descended the stairs and made for the door as quietly as they could. It would have gone out without a cinch. Except for that one of the student's weapons bounced against the metal rail. The clanging echoed through the hall, the school, and the entire front yard.

The student stared in horror, Denya stared at him in a mix of fury and terror. Saya's eyes were as wide as dinner plates. And then They came, all at once, in one massive wave.

"Run!" Takashi yelled. And so they ran.

It was only just over a hundred yards, but it may as well have been a hundred miles. They were everywhere, hundreds of them swarming outside. No possible way to defeat them all, just run. So they ran, cutting down anything that got in their way. And when one of their party stumbled and fell, they kept running. And when another student ran back into the horde after her fallen friend, they kept running. And when Saya nearly stopped in disbelief at the girl's actions, they grabbed her and kept running.

They were on the bus, and Denya found himself shooting the gun for the first time. _Breath slow, aim low, squeeze your whole hand._ The gun jumped up in his hands, and one of Their heads exploded. Next to him, Kohta had taken up a firing position inside the bus and was picking off any that got too close. Saeko was outside, beating down those that Kohta missed. Denya put the gun away and withdrew his blade once again, cutting down Them with Saeko while everyone got aboard.

"Everyone's in, let's go!" Denya and Saeko ran on without a word and took seats while Shizuka tried to get orientated with the controls.

"Let's see here, there's the break the gas, and there's the clutch, yes they all seem to be there." She sounded like she was completely out of touch with reality.

"Hurry up and get the damn thing moving!" Takashi yelled.

"Wait, hold the bus!" Takashi and Denya turned at the sound of the cry. And Denya saw _him_.

Shido was mostly just a name to him. Denya had only seen the man two or three times, but he had immediately disliked him. _He's a snake, a crocodile. _Denya had seen how he talked to students, especially the girls, praising them with his tongue while undressing them with his eyes.

But it was Takashi's call, and he said to let them on, despite fierce opposition from Rei. Denya didn't like the man, but he had students with him, and Denya couldn't leave them to die. So he covered their entry, laying down cover-fire with Kohta.

They ran on one-by-one, except for one. Denya hadn't meant to see it, it was by pure chance. He took his eye off of Them for a moment, checking on Shido's distance to the bus.

He saw the student running, huffing as he struggled to carry his books with him. Denya watched as he tripped, fell onto the ground and spilled his possessions all over the place. And Denya watched as Shido ignored his outstretched arm, and smashed in his face with his shoe. The student fell back, shocked and bleeding. And then They were on him, and his shocked silence turned to agonized shrieks as They ripped and tore into his flesh.

"That's the last of them, let's go!" Takashi cried as Shido ran aboard. Denya leaped back on the bus and dove into a seat as Shizuka threw it into gear and plowed for the front gates. The thumps of the Them thundered throughout the bus, despite the panicked screams from the various students.

But Denya was oblivious to it all, a black rage growing inside him as he saw Shido wrap his arms around the students to whisper words of encouragement to them. The bus jolted violently as they smashed through the gates, through a final group of Them, and onto the road.

As the bus accelerated down the empty streets, Denya continued to stare into Shido's grip on the kukri tightened, and he felt quite sure he wouldn't feel any remorse for ending this sick man.

But the occasional thumping of bodies against the bus's hood reminded Denya of the real threat that faced them all. And a sudden thought jolted through his mind.

_If this doesn't unify us, what will? _

_A/N: Chapter three is going to be a bit, interesting. Since we already know what happens to everyone in the manga/anime, I'm sticking to Denya's POV for Chapter three since he's new and I want to try and cement him as part of the group. But the deal is, chapter three's basically going to cover the rest of the anime series in a series of semi-flashback moments mixed with actual chunks of story during key moments. I'm not following the manga, partly because I don't like where it is now and I don't want to have to accommodate that into the fic, and so I can get through the canon faster and kick off into the real fanfiction without the restraints of writing in canon._

_Anyway, hope you like it, please read and review, I love you all._

_~ JSF_


	3. Chapter 3

**__**_Yes yes, this took a long time, I know. But it really turned into quite the grind in the past month, and I'm rather surprised I got it out by now._

* * *

><p><strong>Running From the DEAD<strong>

**By JSF16**

**Chapter Three**

The bus rolled on, and Denya saw just how bad the situation was. Pillars of thick smoke rose all over the city for miles upon end, sirens wailed in the distance, and everywhere They walked. Denya held on to his seat as they tore down the road in the minibus, although Shizuka had slowed down a bit now that they had entered more compact suburban areas.

They drove, they talked, trying to figure out how to execute their plans. They had to get across the river, but everyone knew they chaos and death would only be increasing the nearer they got to the bridges. Denya let the others talk, they knew their way around the city far better than him, and it wasn't his families at stake.

Shido was still with them, offering his 'comfort' to the petrified students in the back, students that Denya couldn't help but pity. They were young, naïve, stupid. They had no real idea how serious the situation was, and they could not see the evil that radiated from Shido. But even from them, Denya had witnessed heart-wrenching loyalty as one of them tearfully ran back to her dying lover, even as They stripped his flesh from his bones. She died with him, the person she loved and Denya couldn't get the image out of his head.

_ Is that me? Am I that loyal, that brave? Will I charge into a hopeless situation to help someone I love, even if there is no way out? _Denya wanted to believe the answer was yes, but in the back of his mind was a sickening fear that told him no. Denya looked at the others, still talking about how to get across the river. _Will I die for them? _

_ They got to the bridge, but not all of them. Rei had been unable to go any further with Shido in the vehicle and had jumped out. Takashi went after her, and Denya's heart nearly stopped when the burning bus blazed between them, only to burst with relief when he heard them saying they were okay and they were to meet across the river at the police station. _

_ So they kept going, they drove through the haunted streets, avoiding them when they could and plowing through them when they had to. They reached the bridge, but it was even more congested than they'd feared. They were stuck in traffic, sandwiched between vehicles on all sides in such a way that if They attacked, they would be completely incapable of movement. Denya wondered how long until they struck out for the other side on foot. _

"So Takagi-san, what's the big plan?" Denya said casually. Saya turned around.

"What do you mean?" She said. Denya nodded his head towards the other side of the river.

"What's the plan? I mean sure, we get across the river, fight our way through more of the dead and find all your parents. Then what? Do we all walk off into the sunset together, hand-in-hand?" Saya gave him an annoyed scowl.

"Don't be an idiot. Once we get to my house my father will have a plan to get us out of here."

"And what if we don't find him? Hell, what if he's not alive?" He said, and she glared all the more.

"If anyone in this city is going to survive, it will be my father. We've got a gated-off manor up on the hill with a large number of armed guards. He'll keep a low profile to Them while sending out groups to find survivors and collect them there. Besides, you seem quite sure your father will be fine, why shouldn't mine?"

"Because my papa is not in a city of four million, he's five kilometers from the nearest town which has a little over a thousand people in it. He watches the news a fair deal, so he'll know what's going on. That, and he's ex-special forces. He will be quite fine." Denya said, casting a frustrated look out on the pile-up of vehicles. "Which is more than I can say for us." He shrugged and turned back to Saya. "But who am I to criticize, I doubt I can think of any better ideas." He admitted, then looked over at Kohta who was looking out the window, casually ejecting and reloading the magazine for his nail gun. "So Kohta-san, what about your parents? Where are they?" Kohta looked over at him, surprised at the question.

"Oh, well they're both out of town, way out of town, so we won't be getting them." He said casually, then went back to staring out the window. _That was a bit too casual._ Denya noted.

"You don't sound terribly concerned." He said, Kohta looked back at him and shrugged.

"My folks weren't exactly the best parents in the world; they were mostly concerned with their careers and were perfectly content to throw fistfuls of money my way to keep me happy." _That explains buying me a three-hundred American dollar machete. _Denya thought.

"That must suck." Denya said, and was a bit surprised when Kohta seemed hesitant to agree.

"Kind of, but it's nice not to be worried about them. I know that sounds pretty bad, but I'm honestly not too worried about them." He shrugged. "I guess I'll find out someday. "What about you Denya-san, what was it like being the son of a Spetznaz?" Kohta asked, pushing his glasses back up his nose.

"Hard, very hard," Denya grinned and answered. "He was very insistent on me being tough and being able to protect myself. That and there was plenty of farm work to do and getting up at oh-five-thirty, to pitch hay isn't exactly an enjoyable experience." Denya smiled as he thought back about his old life. "And then sometimes he would have members from his old squad come out to help 'educate me.'" Denya chuckled. "And having half-a-dozen fifty-year old ex-soldiers threatening to break your legs is a very riveting experience."

"They actually threatened to break your legs?"

"They did once jump out of the hay bale and knocked me off the loft in the barn. Later papa said that was a lesson to be learned in being more aware of my surroundings." He laughed. "But he didn't abuse me, and papa is the kind of guy who intimidates you, but also motivates you. Frankly, it wasn't that bad in the end. And I'm definitely not complaining about it now."

"It sounds like childhood was interesting for you." Saeko spoke up.

"Da, it definitely wasn't a boring experience." Denya remarked before craning his head around to face the swordswoman. "So what of you Busujima-san? Why did you choose kendo?" Saeko tilted her head as she pondered the question before answering simply.

"I enjoy the adrenaline rush of a good fight." Denya agreed with her there, there was no denying the excitement of battle.

"Hmm, I agree with you on that point." Denya said, suddenly realizing how tired he was. Now that the adrenaline and fear had drained from him, he felt fairly sapped. And the bus seat was rather comfortable. _Don't go to sleep now, They might come at any time. _One part of him warned. _We'll hear them if They get on the bridge, there's a few cars as a buffer zone behind us. Besides, no good fighting drowsy. _Yes, a good sleep was what he needed, a short power nap even. His eyelids drooped, his breathing slowed as he drifted off to sleep.

* * *

><p><em>Quiet whispering woke him up. Saya, Kohta, and Saeko were all discussing something with Shizuka. Rubbing the sleep from his eyes, Denya ambled out of his seat and wandered over to join them. <em>

_ They weren't going anywhere, they had barely moved since getting there and there was no telling how long until the dead found all these people bottled up on the bridge like a giant sausage waiting to be eaten. They had to move and they had to move immediately. But he tried to stop them. _

_ Shido was disturbed at this rebellion against his control, and he was quite insistent that Shizuka stay with them. But Saya wasn't bluffing; she was a genius, and a sharp one at that. She could see through Shido and his guise, and she didn't buy it. Shido tried, but finally relented, especially after Kohta drove a nail into the seat right next to his hand. _

_ So they left. They collected their few possessions and exited the bus to find another way across the river, preferably one that wasn't barricaded and loaded with cars. Striking for the streets next to the riverbank, they headed for the next bridge, avoiding Them as they went. But the further they went the more and more of Them there were, until they found themselves unable to avoid drawing attention to themselves anymore. _

* * *

><p>"I must say Takagi-chan; this is truly a terrific plan! Surely we are much better off now than before!" Denya shouted as he cut down another one of Them and turned to face two more lumbering towards him.<p>

"Shut up Kondrashin-chan!" Saya snapped back, standing at the edge of the road with Shizuka as more and more of Them hobbled towards them. "I don't need to take your bullshit, just shut up and fight! That's the agreement here, I make the plans and you make sure we don't get eaten. I'm the genius, you are all the grunts."

"I think your plans are pretty good Takagi-chan!" Kohta chirped up.

"Shut up Hirano-kun!"

_Pop! Pop! _Kohta's nail gun hissed as he dropped two more of them with his uncanny accuracy. Denya was hesitant to use the Tokarev due to the loud sound, but as more and more of Them came into view he was beginning to be more and more inclined to open fire.

"Kohta-san, to your left!" Denya called out as he spotted another one flanking in Kohta's left.

"Right, got 'im!"

"No, left."

"What?" Kohta said, confused. Denya shook his head.

"Never mind." Denya said, shoving his kukri through the eye of one of the undead and kicking it away. But even as it slid off his blade he saw another four stagger around the corner and make towards them. "Oh for god's sake, we may as well put out a fire with Dixie cups for all the good we're doing!"

"Maybe if you would stop yelling they wouldn't keep coming!" Saya snapped from behind him.

"Oh yes, because your shrieking isn't having any effect on their behaviour of course." Denya remarked, side-stepping one of Their swings and bringing the blade around in both hands to send the head flying off, spilling blood along the ground as it went. Saeko was a few yards away from him, smashing heads in with an artistic finesse. Kohta continued to steadily drop them with nails to the head.

But they were losing. More were coming, and Denya had noticed they had been slowly but steadily giving ground for the last minute, and with the mess of cars at their backs they soon wouldn't have much more ground to relinquish.

_Well if we're done here I'm damn well going to take some of you bastards with me! _He gritted his teeth as anger shot through him. With a sudden surge of energy he charged forward, cutting down two more while knocking another's legs out from beneath it. He leaped over it, about to stab it, when iron fingers wrapped around his shoulder.

_Poof! _The grip relaxed as the corpse fell, a nail protruding from the back of its skull. Denya gave it a shocked look, and then looked up at Kohta who flashed him thumbs up.

"Remember to watch your back!" He said, Denya smiled appreciatively, and then went back to ramming the blade through the downed thing's skull. Stepping back, he drew the Tokarev and mentally recalled his situation. _Four in the __magazine__, one in the chamber. Five __magazines__ remaining. _Putting his foot out behind him to stabilized himself, he leveled the gun on the nearest one's head and squeezed the trigger.

The gunshot was loud and rang out through the area. From behind him Denya could hear Saya yelling "Baka!" but he was too preoccupied to notice. His target took the 7.62mm slug in the left eye and was bowled over backwards, pieces of brain spraying out the back of its head. Taking aim at another one, he blew its head out as well, taking another step back as he did so.

"Damn it." He cursed, and then shot another one. _Maybe we can try the river; they surely can't swim can they? _He was getting desperate now, and he had doubts they would all be able to take on the currents and possible undertows. And then something happened.

_Is that a motorcycle? _He thought as a growling mechanical noise grew louder and louder. _Bang! _Another gunshot, another one crumpled to the ground. And then it happened.

* * *

><p><em>It was the most awe-inspiring sight Denya had ever seen. The motorcycle flying through the air, delivering Rei and Takashi like some form of divine intervention. Takashi plowing his bike through a mass of them, swinging his bat like a sword. Rei played her dance of death, makeshift spear in hand as she struck down Them with deadly grace. The insane grin on Kohta's face as he blew down Them with relish, firing his newfound revolver with a ghoulish delight.<em>

_ They fought side by side, cutting them down even as more appeared. But a new spirit invigorated them; it was more than just fighting for bleak survival now. Denya felt a surge of power and dedication rush through him as he fought side-by-side with these students, with his friends. This was not fighting to survive, this was fighting to live._

_And when the fight was done, as they all stood around exchanging plans, Denya could feel a fire lighting in him. Even if they had no goal, nothing to strive for, Denya knew what he was to do. He was to protect them all. Papa had trained his vigorously for this, brutally even. And now for the first time in his life, even as the world collapsed around them, he felt alive. _

* * *

><p>It was a very nice house; Denya was a bit surprised that a single woman could afford such a nice place.<p>

"So, this girl is some sort of military-person? I didn't know they paid this well." Takashi observed, warily scanning the vast interior of the house.

"Actually she's with the Police department's Special Snipers division, they pick from some of the best marksmen -and markswomen- in the country." Kohta corrected. "But I didn't think they paid this well either." His voice trailed off as he took in the house's grandness as well, running his hand along the expertly polished stair rail. "Barely looks lived in." He murmured. "How does it stay so clean? I don't see any dust anywhere."

"Eh, Shizuka-sensei said her friend lets her stay here to keep the place clean while she's gone. I guess she's not just good at medicine." Denya reminded them, although the idea of the busty nurse being able to clean this well was a bit of a far-fetch for him. Unless of course she made a game out of it, dressed up in one of the maid outfits…

Denya shook his head clear of that image. _Not the time or the place._ He stepped into the kitchen and swung open the cupboard, and was surprised to find it stocked with food; lots of canned foods and non-perishable food stuff packed the shelves. "We're well-stored here; there must be two weeks' worth of food here." He said to the others.

"Won't last too long when the water shuts off, and judging by how chaotic it is our there I don't think that'll take long." Saya said moodily, moving forward in her mission to crush all and any forms of optimism, and then headed upstairs after the rest of the girls to take over the main bathroom. Denya rubbed his face in exasperation, but nerve-grating as the pink-headed girl was, she did have a point; the water flow probably wouldn't be working too much longer so they'd do best to take advantage of it while they could.

_There must be some bottles or something around here we can use to carry water_. Denya began digging through the pantries and cupboards for any kind of container that could be used to bottle up water. Hell, even a bowl and a decently sealed lid would do. But even after upturning every cupboard he could find, he hadn't found a damned thing.

_ There ought to be a liquor cabinet around here. _Denya thought. Surely no one with this much money wouldn't burn it away on some alcohol somewhere. He moved out of the kitchen, looking for any kind of door or pantry that could hold such a commodity.

He stopped near the entrance, then turned around and made his way up the spiraling staircase. The sounds of giggling and splashing began to filter in from the bathroom, and Denya hurried as he went past, ignoring the squeals of delight. _"Son, there are some things men are not to know. What women do alone in the bathroom is one of these things." _Papa had smiled when he told him that, one of the few times Denya had ever seen him do so. The memory brought an upward curve of the lips to Denya's face, and he felt a twinge of remorse. _Papa's__ alright, he must be. If anyone can survive this mess it's him. _

Denya felt a stirring of pride in his heart at the thought of his Papa blowing down the undead with his Kalashnikov, strong and powerful despite his age. Crimson beret shining boldly for all to see, his old comrades at his side as they rescued civilians from these monsters, putting the evil down with power and cunning. Denya grinned, that was something to fight for. Just to be back with his Papa in this situation. Papa had never taken well to farming life, and Denya suspected he would be almost enthralled to have a cause to fight for again, one that seemed so right.

_"Fighting against men is not the natural way my son, killing another man is not what we should do. There's always factors, what-if's. You see Denya, no man is truly evil, not a single one. Whenever a man dies, a little bit of good dies too." _Papa had hated the orders he'd received in the service of the Red Army; he had often cursed the Soviets in front of Denya even though the boy had not grown up under them. But part of him had still loved fighting for a cause, even if it was questionable. And he had always found pride in fighting for Mother Russia, there was no denying the undying patriot in Mikhail Kondrashin.

Denya rummaged through what seemed to be an office when a large oak door caught his eye. Grabbing and twisting the handle, he found it to be locked. Not as if that would stop him of course. The door was strong, but it was hinged to a much weaker wall. Two solid kicks later and the door tipped over, only to be caught by Denya who gently laid it on the ground. Stepping into the room and flicking on the light, his eyes bulged at what he saw.

The room was twenty feet long and ten feet wide, bottles crowded together in their nooks lined on either side and at the end.

"Wow." Was all he said before walking in, running his fingers along the unopened bottle caps and corks. Wine, sake, whiskey, rum, vodka, scotch, gin, and even a few bottles of absinthe. Grabbing the nearest bottle and pulling it out, Denya held it up to the light. They were almost all in glass bottles unfortunately, but it was still better than nothing. A though crossed Denya's mind, and he grinned wickedly. Stuffing the wine back into its crook, he pulled out a bottle of Russian vodka with an approving nod, then grabbed two bottles of sake and headed out the room and back downstairs to the kitchen, grinning happily.

* * *

><p>"Okay, ready?"<p>

"Ready. On three."

"Got it. One, two, _three!" _With a final heave, Kohta and Takashi shoved forward with all their strength into the crowbar.

_ Wham! _The door came swinging wide open and sent them piling forward into the floor with an _oof! _Rubbing his face, Takashi pulled himself back up and crawled back over to the gun locker they'd finally wrenched open.

"Whoa, holy shit…" His voice trailed away at the sight clustered before him.

"Huh? What is it, did we find anything?" Kohta said, crawling up next to Takashi. He focused his gaze on the locker, and nearly squealed in delight. Shoving Takashi out of the way, he dove into the gun locker like a frenzied animal, laughing like a maniac. Grabbing long black rifle out of the locker and, holding it like a mother holding a newborn, lifted it up in awe and glee.

"Look at this! It's a model of the AR10! And configured like this, this is _illegal!_" He looked up at Takashi, face in awe. But it soon dissolved into a nearly insane giddiness as a semi-murderous grin spread over his face. The quiet and timid otaku was gone, replaced by a maliciously grinning expert, checking all over the gun and all of its components, excitedly pointing out every unique feature on it until Takashi –overwhelmed by it all– held up his hand.

"Hold up man, you're leaving me all behind. First off, how do you know all this?" Kohta opened his mouth to answer, just as the door swung open and Denya walked in, a very satisfied smile on his face and a bottle of liquor in his hand.

"My comrades, may I present my find." He said smugly, and held up the bottle. "There is whole storage room full of this stuff, hundreds of bottles!" He carried on excitedly, pressing in closer to them both. "We can carry as much water as we possibly need, just pour out the liquor and fill them up! It's great!" A wild grin crossed his face –Takashi had never seen him grin this much before– and he put the bottle to his lips and took a deep swig.

Kohta gasped in shock as Takashi pulled back, startled. Denya gave them both a fat wink, then took another pull.

"Bu-but that's illegal! You're underage!" Kohta exclaimed. Denya laughed –Takashi had rarely heard him laugh before– and gave Kohta a pitying look.

"Hey, I'm not a Japanese citizen. Besides, I'm Russian, da? I had my first shot when I was ten!" He laughed again and took another slug, just as Takashi reached out and grabbed his arm.

"But this isn't really the time to get bombed man, not here and definitely not now." Denya lowered the bottle and smiled, goofily actually, as if Takashi was stating the stupidly obvious.

"I _know_, I'm not going to have _that _much, I know my limits man." He winked again, and then capped the bottle, to Kohta's relief. Denya then noticed the rifle in his friends hand and zeroed in on it in interest. "What the hell is that? Where'd you find it?" Kohta switched back into his "other" mode and, grinning in triumph, pointed to the open locker. Denya reached for the gun, wrapping his fingers around it and trying to pull it closer, only to find Kohta stubbornly holding on. "May I?" He said plaintively. Kohta relented grudgingly, and Denya pulled the weapon up close to examine it.

Looking it over in silence with just a curious look on his face, he checked it from all angles, pulling back the charging handle and thumbing the muzzle. He looked back up at Kohta. "What is this, some sort of Armalite?" He asked, puzzled.

"Damn right, made in the US of A!" Kohta took the gun back greedily. "Chambered in three-oh-eight and accurate out to six hundred and thirty yards, unless you've got a telescopic sight, _which we do_!" Kohta raised the gun to his shoulder and aimed out the window. "Oh yeah, I could definitely get hits at seven hundred and fifty yards with this."

"Again, where the hell did you learn all this Hirano-kun?" Takashi asked in slight exasperation, annoyed at being left out of the conversation. Kohta turned around and left the muzzle aimed towards the ceiling, still grinning.

"My folks took me along with them on a trip to America. While I was there, they paid for me to get advanced combat training from one of the world's top PMC's, Blackwater. I was taught for a month by one of their instructors, an ex-captain from Delta Force." His crazy smile widened. "I got a two-inch grouping of fifteen rounds eight hundred yards downrange in under ten seconds." Denya and Takashi both just stared at him like he'd grown a third arm.

"Holy shit." Takashi said in a distant, quivering voice. "The class otaku's a card-carrying member of the NRA."

Denya looked just as surprised. "Wha-what the hell? You can't be that good!" He sounded angry, defensive almost. "You're not supposed to be that good within a month!"

"What's your best record?" Kohta said, a slight challenging tone to his voice.

"That's not important!" Denya snapped. "Anyway, what else is in there?" He motioned to the locker. Kohta snapped out of his spotlight and started digging around for the rest of the locker's contents, pulling out an Ithaca M37 shotgun, an M1A Super Match, and a Barnett Wildcat C5 crossbow; all of which Kohta went into enthusiastic detail about and leaving Takashi and Denya behind in his wake.

But the excitement of the discovery wore off as the work began, loading all of the magazines one bullet at a time. And there were_ a lot _of bullets. The three boys plugged away at it, slowly filling each magazine to its capacity, talking as they went.

The sound of giggling again filtered down through the house and into the room, drawing Takashi and Kohta's attention. Kohta gave Takashi a mischievous look.

"Hey, wanna take a look?"

"Heh, I don't want to die today." Takashi said, blowing the idea off.

"Da, it's best not to anger a bunch of girls who know how to kill." Denya pointed out. Kohta just shrugged and went back to loading bullets, tossing each completed magazine onto the ever-growing pile on the bed. Denya just rolled his eyes and kept on working. He had his own reasons to not play the peeping tom game. Namely a very serious vow he'd made years ago when he was thirteen.

_"I was your age once too Denya, I know what you're going through. But if you ever look at any of those degrading pictures again, I will beat the flesh from your bones." _Denya remembered with a cringe the time Papa had caught him with a porn magazine slipped to him by one of the school kids. He then remembered sleeping on his stomach for the next week to save his back –and ass– the pain.

_"If you ever look at those degrading pictures again…" _He hadn't said _"If I catch you…"_ it was a very clear statement. Papa knew, he always knew and would always find out. And when he did, oh boy…

"Denya-kun, which one do you want?" Kohta asked, breaking Denya's relapse. He lifted his head up to face his friend.

"Hmm? Which what?" He asked. Kohta rolled his eyes.

"Which _gun_, man you gotta pay more attention." Kohta said in exasperation, and Denya looked over to the small armory laid out on the floor next to them. He just shook his head though.

"Nyet, I already have one. I'll be fine as is. I think you and Komuro-kun need them more." He said, and then went back to loading the magazines for a moment, only to raise his head again. "Hey, turn the TV on, see what's going on." Kohta nodded and reached over across the bed for the remote control and flicked the slick flat screen mounted in front of them on. Color flashed across the screen.

The entire city was in chaos, and the three boys slowly put down their magazines as Kohta cranked up the volume. Watching in silence, they saw the newscast showing the city outside of them. Fires were blazing in dozens of points across the city, and on the bridge they had escaped from an hour ago, the police were trying to hold back a growing crowd of increasingly daring and violent protesters.

The footage shifted to a camera leveled at a group of protesters brandishing signs. It was hard to hear what the leader of them –a gaunt and pale man wearing a construction helmet– was saying, but they managed to make it out.

_"Don't tolerate the tyranny of the police department! We strongly condemn this biological weapon, this circulation of killing pandemic developed by our own government! WE condemn this!" _The camera cut back to a reporter standing in front of the crowd as their leader rallied them on. The boys could now see the signs being held high by the group, especially the predominant one shouting in bold characters "LOVE FOR THE INFECTED PATIENTS".

Takashi stared, Denya stared, Kohta stared. All three of them stared in utter amazement, jaws hung open at the sheer stupidity of it all.

"What the fuck…" Takashi trailed off.

"_Yeblya idiotov_." Denya muttered, slowly shaking his head in amazement.

"Are they out of their fucking minds? Dead people are wandering around the streets eating each other, and _they think it's a fucking government conspiracy!" _Takashi half-shouted, only for Kohta to tap him on the shoulder and place his finger over his lips, asking him to be quiet.

_Bang! _The gunshot rang out loud and clear from the TV speakers, immediately grabbing all their attention with a start. The camera was shaking, retreating from the crowd as the cameraman backed up. More gunshots, Kohta quickly dialed down the volume. Screams in the background, the protesters started to get a bit edgy, backing up a few steps. More gunshots and screams rent the air as the cameraman began to double-time it, the reporter coming up behind, still trying to assess the situation.

_"It looks as if the police barricade is breaking, the infected are starting to push through the-oh god, OH MY GOD! They're attacking the protesters, the police are starting to-Tojo look out-oh my god!" _There was a very loud scream from behind the camera which fell to the ground with a heavy smash. The last thing they saw before the screen cut to static was the reporter -absolutely petrified- staring in terror at something behind the camera.

The three boys watched in silence at the flickering waves of static washing across the screen. Kohta slowly raised the control, and switched the set off. "Holy shit…" Takashi said in awe. Silence ensued for a few seconds, before Takashi voiced all their thoughts. "We've got to get the fuck out of here."

Kohta took immediate protest to this. "No way man, are you kidding? They could attack us in the dark!"

"Da, we should probably wait until morning-what the hell!" Denya suddenly exclaimed as, from behind them, two long-fingered hands wrapped hungrily around Takashi's shoulders. The Russian whipped around in alarm to face the threat, hand already closed around his Tokarev, when he took in the being that faced them.

It was Shizuka-sensei. Wearing a night-gown that didn't cover much, and was slipping. Badly. She smelled like sake, and Denya vaguely recalled not closing the liquor room. He and Kohta both took a step back, eyes widening like balloons, while Takashi nearly jumped out of his skin.

Nearly locking up completely, Denya sucked in a breath, face flushing red.

"Goodbye." He forced out curtly, then spun around on one heel and then -with military precision- marched out the room without a look back, abandoning his comrades to their fate as he marched right outside onto the balcony, shutting the door behind him.

* * *

><p>Kohta joined him a minute later, a hastily-wiped blood smear across his face. Looking more than a bit nervous, he pulled up a deckchair and raised the AR10 to his eye to scan the streets, peering down the scope. Denya cracked a slight smile. "So, how is Takashi-kun doing?" He asked with a smirk. Kohta's face turned redder than it had been and he bit his lip nervously.<p>

"He's, uh, well he's busy. But I think he'll fine." Kohta stammered. From behind the closed door, Denya could hear Shizuka-sensei let out a particularly loud drunken squeal that made Kohta flinch and check quickly back down the street, clearly hoping the intoxicated nurse wouldn't draw any unwelcome attention.

Denya checked the streets again, and then leaned back into the railing. "Crazy day." He commented, staring out into the blackened city. Alarms sounded off in the distance, mixed with the occasional scream and gunshots echoing into the night.

"You can say that again." Kohta remarked with a nervous chuckle, still scanning the streets. There were a few of Them that he could see, but none closer than a hundred yards, well out of earshot for their conversation level. Besides, there were other, louder noises to draw their undivided attention.

Denya was fiddling with his pistol, sliding the magazine in and out of the receiver. He barked a low sardonic laugh. "Hell, I never thought I'd use this thing, not in Japan of all places." Kohta took this as an invitation to conversation and jumped on it.

"I can sure imagine. Now please man, you gotta tell me, what's with the Tokarev? Why'd your old man give you an old Soviet pistol as a parting gift?" Kohta asked. Denya just shrugged.

"Why else would you get a gun? To defend myself of course. Myself, people I cared about." He clicked the magazine into place and turned to look at Kohta. "But honestly, I think part of his game was to test me. That's his thing, you know? Always testing me some way, so I guess he figured me trying to hide a gun and bullets in a school would be a test of my sneakiness." He chuckled lightly. "Da, life was always interesting with Papa, that be for sure. Painful too sometimes." He winced. Kohta pressed on however, being all perked up with one of his favorite topics.

"So your dad was a Spetznaz?" He asked; a mixture of curiosity and awe in his voice.

Denya scratched his arm. "Mhmm, for twenty years. All for Mother Russia of course." He said with a touch of cynicism in his voice.

"So, did he ever see action?" Kohta ventured.

"Oh yeah, Afghanistan mostly, seven years doing operations there. Don't ask me what he did, because I don't know. He didn't talk about it much, and quite a bit of it was classified I guess." Denya shrugged, then smiled and held up the pistol. "Da, this was his gun though. Got it from his Papa who fought in the Great Patriotic War against the Germans. Barrel's been replaced twice since the rifling got worn to nothing. Action changed once, trigger twice, slide once." He let out a little laugh. "It's like that old saying. 'I have my grandfather's axe. The handle's been replaced twice and the head's been replaced three times, but it's still my grandfather's axe." He laughed nervously, then looked back out over the city and sighed, going back to ejecting and reinserting the magazine anxiously. Kohta pushed his glasses back up his nose and cocked his head.

"So, er, why'd you never bring up your history? I mean, damn, they'd probably have respected you a lot more if they knew you were the fucking son of Rambo." He asked. Denya laughed at the comparison, then looked back over at Kohta.

"I just wanted to go through school and go home. Attention was never on my list of things to get, I just wanted to stay under the radar and sail through, nice and quiet."

"Because, of course, hiding a gun under your pillow was the right way to go about that right?" Kohta smirked. "How'd you even manage to get that into the country? It's hard enough to get your hands on one even with all the proper licensing and all that." He asked.

"Well, let's just say that Papa acquired some rather, shady contacts during his service. He pulled a few strings here and there." Denya smiled thinly then chuckled lightly.

Kohta only let out a low whistle. "Wow, he must have had some contacts in the Yakuza or something." There was a hint of wonder on his voice, after playing the games, reading the books and watching the moves all his life, here he was in front of the nearly bona-fida deal at last. _This is so cool! _A voice inside him squeaked. Sure there was a global apocalypse going down George A. Romero style out there, but still. Here he was, assault rifle in hand next to the trained son of the ultimate Soviet badass with a definite evil force to fight and some beauties to save.

_ Speaking of which, _He thought, turning to look inside the house. He didn't hear anything coming from inside, and was starting to wonder where Takashi had gone off to. "Um, you think they're all okay in there? They've been real quiet recently."

"Meh, they're fine. I'm sure we would have heard them being eaten by now." Denya replied casually, scanning the streets as best he could. He yawned. "Dunno 'bout you I'm getting rather tired. Shall I remain on watch, or do you want to?" He asked. Kohta flashed a toothy white grin.

"Go on and get your beauty sleep. I'm awake, and I've got all the company I need." He shot a nearly lustful look at the AR10 clutched in his hands, stroking the barrel fondly. Denya shrugged, got up, and went back inside.

The sound of gentle snoring caught his ear, and he saw Shizuka-sensei –thankfully covered with a blanket- calmly sleeping on the bed. Feeling more than a bit awkward in the room, he hurried up and shuffled out the door and closed it behind him. Turning around, he let out a relieved breath. _Where's Takashi gone off to? _

* * *

><p>To be brutally honest, this would have been totally awesome any other time, or at least, at any other time before the dead started eating people. Takashi's throat was completely dry and his palms were sweating profusely. This was just <em>so not <em>what he needed to deal with right now.

"Oh, what? This old thing? Oh, I found it in the pantry." Saeko's voice was muddled and a bit hazy, a perfect match the scent of alcohol on her. That wasn't so much the problem, as the aforementioned "old thing" she was wearing. She was wearing a kitchen apron, and not much else besides a very scant thong. She was over a hot stove, mindlessly stirring a cooking pot, and frankly looking more like a seductress then there ever was.

A stifled breath caught itself in Takashi's throat as he tightened up by reflex, unable to take his ever-widening eyes off of the raven-headed beauty's curvaceous frame. "You -you don't think it looks too revealing, do you?" She said, lifting up the loose material near her waist in her hands, a hint of self-conscious worry in her voice. As the emotions began to pile up in Takashi's mind and he became painfully aware of a bulge in his pants, his attention was suddenly diverted by a completely different sound from behind him.

He turned in surprise, to see Denya standing in full view of him, and doing his best to not burst out laughing. Awkward embarrassment immediately changed to awkward fury, and he shot a blistering look at his classmate, who covered up his mouth and, tears coming from his eyes, staggered off out of sight. Takashi's burning feelings didn't even have time to die down though before another, more familiar noise called to him.

"Takaaashi, get up here!" Rei. From the sounds of it, she was just as drunk as the other girls. Immediately Denya burst out laughing from around the corner, and Takashi swore he was going to kill that Russian for leaving the liquor cabinet open.

"You'd better attend to her Komuro-kun; girls like to have someone with them in tough situations." Saeko said casually.

"Takaaaashi, get your ass up here!" Rei called again, prompting another outburst of hysterical chuckling from Denya. Saeko smirked and shifted position, revealing just a flash of the inside of her thighs. It was enough for Takashi, and with a deal of difficulty, he pulled himself away and dragged himself towards the stair set on leaden legs. He passed a smirking Denya in the corner, who winked knowingly at him.

"Have a good time." He managed, before breaking down in another fit of laughter. Resisting an impulse to knock him across the skull, Takashi forced himself on and up the stairs; really not sure how much he wanted what was next.

* * *

><p>All things aside, Denya was feeling pretty good at the moment. He quietly tip-toed past a gently snoring Saya and made his way up to the guest room where he, Takashi, and Kohta were planning to spend the night. He had a bit of a relaxed, almost dopey, feeling pumping through him right now (although it was probably just the extra shot of vodka) and the thought of a nice bed was amazingly appealing to him right now.<p>

There was a dog barking in the distance, but he didn't think it to be close enough to draw any attention to them. Not bothering to pull of his clothes, he kicked off his shoes and collapsed onto the big comfy futon sprawled out in front of him. Every tense muscle in his body let loose at once, and sleep seemed to be only moments away. A satisfied sigh escaped his lips as the blackness of sleep closed in.

He heard footsteps, there was someone at the door. Hand drifting towards his pistol, he quickly sat up, all traces of sleep rapidly vanishing. It was Kohta, a grim look on his face.

"We got a problem. Some little girl's surrounded down the street, Komuro-san's going out to rescue her while we fix up to go get them in the Humvee." He said bluntly. Denya's heart sank at the words. He knew what it meant. Starting up the noisy Humvee would mean attracting every one of Them within earshot –and meaning that they could kiss their renovations at the fancy house goodbye. He closed his eyes, overwhelmed by a mixture of depression and anger.

Then it was over. He got up, pushed his feet into his shoes, pocketed the Tokarev and headed for the door with a murmured "Hoo-fucking-ray." Sleep, comfort, and good lodging would all have to wait. The apocalypse waited for no man.

* * *

><p><em>AN: No, I dunno when the next chapter will be out. Maybe when Summers over, unless I get another insane writing spark. But until then, read, review, and love. _


	4. Chapter 4

**Running From the DEAD**

**The Island**

**By JSF16 (The Norveyan)**

_Soooo, no update for a year and a half or so. Yeah, my bad. Sorry for instilling anyone with the mistaken belief that I am in anyway reliable as a writer, I'm sorry a hundred-fold for that. But this little update is here, and it's just my take on that sort of repulsive Beach OVA. So I decided to make it more interesting and take a bit of the piss out of it, enjoy everyone!_

"Who's grand fucking idea was this again?"

"Takagi-san, if you'd just pick up a paddle and help then perhaps-"

"Don't _start _with me, Komuro! You two have upper body strength, _you _two do the paddling!"

"Saeko-san, couldn't you perhaps take over?"

"Sorry Takashi, I'd like to, but I've just spent an hour cutting heads off. Once my arms stop shaking I'd be glad to help."

"Heh-heh, yeah sorry, brother. I'd love to help but endurance isn't really my strong point."

"No shit baka, but don't fret; you're not totally worthless. I'm sure if anyone goes overboard we can just use your fat ass as a flotation device."

"Aheh-heh, I'd gladly dive overboard for you, Takagi-san."

"To bring up Takagi-san's earlier point, why didn't we just take another boat? At least we could have taken something bigger, or with a canopy. We're going to be sunburned like nothing else at this rate."

"Rei-san brings up excellent point. Out of the entire marina, we pick the rickety row boat."

"My point _precisely__,_Denya-sanWhich brings back the golden question, _who's bright idea was this?"_ Silence echoed through the creaking of the oars and the lapping of the waves. No one stirred, just looking down instead at their feet. The fiery pink-haired girl glared from head to head like a brutal schoolmaster. She sighed. "Great. So we're almost a mile from the mainland with no food, no water, no idea where we're going, and no idea how we got here." She buried her head into her hands. "I hate this place."

Silence reigned.

Kohta stirred in his seat, then said, "So, why don't we just make land then? We could just

row back to shore."

Saya glared at him. "The reason is, my dear baka, that _They _are swarming the only places we _could _land. Everywhere else it's just rocky cliffs."

Kohta, a bit awe-stricken at having been called 'dear', took a moment to wipe off his glasses before replying.

"Well what about the island?"

Again Saya glared at him. "What island?"

"That one, right over there. Looks just about a mile away, we could get there before noon I bet." He pointed, and everyone followed his finger. A small lump of green rimmed in golden sand sat plump right in the middle of the open ocean. "I mean, it's not connected to the mainland, so it's a safe bet that They don't have any significant presence there. Besides, it seems like a better alternative than just paddling aimlessly, right?" Kohta pointed out.

Takashi looked around the boat. "Alright, everyone who wants to pull over, raise your hand. All hands went up. Zeke barked. Takashi grinned. "Majority rules. Land ho, we'll be there before lunch time!"

* * *

><p>It was actually well past noon by the time the rickety boat buried its keel into the sandy bottom. A little more than extremely exhausted, the occupants slid out. Waking Alice and Shizuka, Takashi and Denya put in a final bout of exertion to drag the boat out of the water and well away from the seaside to protect it from the tide. There they stood, on a beach of an island in the middle of nowhere. White sandy beach stretched away as far as they saw, curving away with the islands dimensions.<p>

"Well fearless leader? What's the next step in your brilliant plan?" Saya said in her eternally griping tone.

"Well I'm thinking of catching us some fish to eat with you as the bait." Takashi muttered.

"Whatever our course of action, we should stay on the coast. Wouldn't do us any good to get lost in a jungle." Saeko observed. Takashi looked at the dense thicket of vines, trees and branches all intertwined a few dozen meters from the beach.

"Great, now we're going to burn for sure." Rei grumbled. "Well come on then, let's go. Takashi? Which way?"

"Right. This island doesn't look too large, if there's anything of worth anything here, we should find it before long. Hey Alice-chan, you need to be carried? Or can you walk?" The young girl shook her head, clutching the Shizuka's hand tightly.

"No thanks! I can walk, Takashi-kun) let's go!" She said brightly, as she strolled off down the beach, Shizuka in tow. Takashi smiled and slung the shotgun over his shoulder.

"You heard her, everyone; let's get a move on."

* * *

><p>Thankfully Takashi was right and the island didn't turn out to be too massive. It was only after about ten minutes of walking that they came across the glittering lights of civilization, in the sense of sunlight flashing off of cheap tourist shops and windows. Takashi wiped his head and sighed with relief, hoping desperately that they had some nice bottles of ice-cold water waiting in there. Of course, he still had to be careful. A little voice in his head that had come alive during these hectic weeks warned him, if people were here than there's no reason They couldn't be here either.<p>

They approached the tourist shop with smooth ease, practicing formation born out of weeks of desperate surviving. Saeko and Rei moved up from the front with Takashi right behind them. Kohta and Denya approached ten yards back, rifles at the ready. Zeke ran up ahead of them all, aggressively sniffing the air. If anyone of Them were to be found, he would pick up on it quick.

They entered the shop quickly, the two girls with sword and spear at the ready. Moving sharply, they checked the isles and back room as Takashi and his shotgun slid in through an open window.

"Looks good, I don't see anything over here." Rei reported.

"Double that, this side is clear. And Zeke doesn't seem to be picking up on anything." Saeko noted as the little dog ran happily around the store, indulging in a dogs delight of sniffing everything in existence. Takashi lowered the shotgun and called out to the others.

"It's alright, we're all clear in here! C'mon in, let's see what they've got." He set his Ithaca down on a shelf and began rummaging through. Hopefully they would find something useful.

"Well guys, it turns out there is good news and bad news. The good news is we've got a big first-aid bag in the back and a good supply of bottled water, plus tourist maps of the island and surrounding area. On the other hand, well…" Takashi trailed off, turning his eyes up awkwardly. One of everyone's first priorities had been to change out of their filthy, sweaty, bloody, and torn up clothes. On the bright side, there was some clothing of the right size. However, it turned out to be very beach-specific clothing. Kohta shot a look outside the door down towards the beach and grinned.

"Takashi my man, I don't think you really know what bad news is." Takashi shifted his gaze in his friends direction. The clothes had been _very _beach specific. Of course, this didn't dissuade the women who were understandably eager to shed their ruinous apparel and don something more refreshing. Two-piece swimming suits were the rule of the day here as it turned out, and while it the clothing wasn't absurdly small, it did make things significantly more distracting.

Thankfully their men's swimwear was a little more conservative. Kohta found a wetsuit that stretched to the knees and elbows. Tight as it was, it definitely showed the wear the last few weeks had on him; he'd slimmed down considerably after the world ended and excess food and laziness became no more. Takashi had grabbed a generous pair of swimming trunks and a lifeguards shirt –he burned easily- and was lounging with the other guys at the tourist shop while the girls frolicked in the surf with Zeke splashing about barking madly.

On the other hand, Denya had occupied the only lounging chair and, having donned a pair of swimming shorts, surrendered his body to the sun. He may have been built like a leather-wrapped brick wall, but was as pale as wax paper. Apparently no one did much sunbathing in Siberia, and he reacted to the blazing sunlight with a nearly drunk level of bliss. The other two paused to stare at him.

"Man, he really likes the sun." Takashi remarked. Kohta tipped his head towards the beach.

"To hell with him, man, look who else likes the sun." Takashi followed his friends eyes down the beach where the girls were splashing in the surf, laughing and smiling. Rei grabbed Saeko by the arms and grappled with her for a short while before the two of them crashed into the surf, exposing their bodies from a variety of lovely angles. Takashi felt somewhere between a satisfied laugh and a nervous swallow

"I tell you, man, this is the best possible situation right now." Kohta said with a wicked grin. That brought a laugh out of Takashi.

"True, but at the same time it's also the worst of possible situations." He cringed at what horribly embarrassing scenarios could –no, would unfold before their time here was done. _Speaking of which, what is our?_ They had water, they had limited shelter, and it seemed like none of Them were on the island with them. On the other hand, he wasn't sure about food and their water supplies weren't limitless. With a sinking thought, he figured silently that they would have to return to their rickety rowboat before too long.

_Although honestly, it could be way worse. _Kohta was right; this was a pretty awesome situation. They had sun, they had shelter, they had water, and most of all they had some R&R. A smiled trickled across his face, and he leaned back against the door frame, resting his eyes and letting the warm comfort of the sun surround him like a bath. _A few days of this, man_, he thought_, a few days of this could be real nice… _

"Hey you lazy bastards! Yeah, you macho-strongmen lounging around with nothing to do. What the hell do you think you're doing?" Saya's tongue snapped the air like a whip, prying open Takashi's eyes open uncomfortably.

"What are you talking about, Takagi-"

"I'm _talking _about how we're own a deserted island with no food thanks to your brilliant leadership. What do you think you get to do now that you've successfully marooned us? Laze around and pretend its Gilligan's Island? You better make whip up some brilliant plan to get food in front of us before too long you know, so get off your ass and get working!"

"Calm down, we'll just gather some fruit off the trees and-" Saya rolled her eyes so hard he thought they were going to pop out.

"Komuro, wake up please. We're on a tourist island, they wouldn't have fruit-bearing trees anywhere near here so they could charge tourists from sushi stalls or something. Which means you'll need to fish. With the reefs around here you should be able to catch something near the shore, better take your pet bear with you, send him to wrestle a shark or something."

"I am resting, Takagi-san." a dormant Denya quietly remarked.

"You're long past the help of beauty sleep, Kondrashin-san, so get up and at least pretend you're going to be useful."

Denya grunted and deftly flipped her the bird

"Fetch your own shark. I'm not your personal supply mule." He objected. Saya pursed her lips.

"No, you're not. You're Komuro's. Takashi, get him to work. Good god, are none of you men willing to help out a girl here?" She said in teeth-grinding arrogant exasperation.

"Of course not, Takagi-san, don't worry we'll have fish for supper tonight or else be eternally ashamed!" Kohta said eagerly.

"Thank you, Hirano-san." Saya said sweetly. "See gentlemen? That's how you make life good for everyone. See you at dinner." She turned around and dashed back down towards the beach where the others continued their water-games. _Son of a bitch. _Takashi groused, knowing full well that hope for a peaceful afternoon was now but a fond memory.

* * *

><p>"I wouldn't even be surprised if they came back with nothing at all you know. Actually, nothing would be borderline impressive. I'd be completely un-surprised if they lost everything they took with them." Saya dropped an armful of sticks and twigs by the marked out campfire site and took in another lungful of air to poison with her words. To be honest, it wasn't that she had some long-term grudge against her male companions, she really didn't. But she was frustrated, and when she was frustrated she tended it out on others.<p>

"I think our deserve more credit than you give them." Saeko mused. "To be honest, we probably wouldn't be alive if it weren't for them. That applies for all of us of course, but I think they're quite resourceful. Hirano-san in particular is quite the innovator with his weapons at least; don't you remember him knowing to get me a proper whet stone for my blade? And if I remember correctly, he was the one who saved you in the classroom when this all began." Saeko said, stretching her back and setting down another pile of wood. The island had proven difficult in attaining fire from, pretty much all of the wood was green and what little dry wood there was mostly in the form of small twigs and branches. Thankfully, they had found some large thick bushes packed with some sort of dry and abundant plant that would do quite well for kindling.

"If I remember correctly though –and I always do- it was your beloved Komuro-kun who picked that bucket of splinters we half-drowned in getting here." Saya commented loudly, causing a streak of blush to cloud Saeko's face. The fact that she and Takashi had considerable feelings for each other was fairly well known amongst the group, but rarely commented on. Thankfully, Saeko was saved from further teasing (and Saya from potential harm) by the arrival of Rei.

"Hey! We got the stall reconfigured as living quarters of sorts, and guess what we found buried behind the first aid bag?"

"A fully-charged satellite phone." Saya said flatly.

"No actually, we found three." Rei chirped. Dead silence.

"Are you seriou-"

"No, I'm messing with you. Seriously though, we found a water filter. No good for salt water, but we're safe from otherwise contaminated water for now. Say, you girls get any luck with the fire?"

"_A-hem._" They both turned. Saeko struck one of the matches they'd found in the shop and dropped it on the carefully constructed bundle of leaves and sticks. Whatever they were, the leaves went up like paper, and soon a fine little fire was crackling. Rei and Saeko smiled in triumph, and even Saya looked slightly more amiable than usual. It is truth that human nature is comforted by the presence of a small fire, and the sight and warmth of it made all the prior days struggles and toils melt away.

"It doesn't last long." Rei noted with a droop.

"The fire burns through its fuel fairly fast." Saeko observed. Saya sighed in frustration.

"Well _no shit_, you just set fire to a pile of leaves and twigs. We'll need a constant source of fuel to keep the fire alive. Those _bakas _better not take too much longer, we can't keep this thing burning perpetually!"

"Hey, I think they're back." Rei said cheerfully, waving her arm. "Takashi! Did you catch anything?"

"Don't kid yourself, Miyamoto-san, we'll be lucky if they even got a single-"

"We caught a shark."

"... I beg your _pardon__?__" _

* * *

><p>"Am I to be surprised that you were taught how to spear-fish as well?" Denya questioned. They were a few hundred yards down the beach on a rocky outcrop. With surprising swiftness, Kohta had crafted several homemade spears from sharpened sticks and with even more surprising swiftness, had skewered nearly half a dozen small, assorted colourful fish from the water which now looked horribly out of place from a Disney movie as they gasped and bled in a slimy pile on the rocks.<p>

"I'm sorta surprised you don't know how to."

"Never did much fishing. Most of our meat came from wild game." Denya shrugged.

Kohta stood waist-deep in swirling turquoise water, bracing himself against the waves as he leaned up another poor finned victim. "Well I'm pretty sure I saw some sort of birds flapping around in the canopy back there. You could knock one down if you really wanted to."

"Hah, waste one of my bullets on one of those bone bags? No thanks my friend." Denya said with forced laugh. _Swish! _Kohta snapped his arm forward like a cobra, sending the sharpened stake zipping into the water.

"Yes, hell yea- Oh, ah shit, I missed'im. Kohta groaned, reaching down and fishing out his spear. "You should try this you know, you can throw it a lot harder than I ever could. The techniques not too hard see, you just need to- oh, fuck!" With remarkable speed Kohta bolted out of the water, scrambling onto the rock and then onto a higher rock. Denya frowned and looked up at him.

"Scary fish, hm?"

"Something like it, yeah." Kohta said breathlessly. "Fifteen feet out, you see him?" Denya stepped to the edge curiously, peeking into the warping water.

"Eh, what you seeing man- oh, shit."

"Yeah." Kohta said grimly, cautiously sliding down to where Denya was.

In about five feet of water and three yards in front of them was the unmistakable shape of a shark. It was about six feet long from nose to tail, and circled in a slow, lazy orbits. It cast the sort of ominous respect that all considerably large sharks possessed, and the two makeshift fishermen stared in fascinated silence.

"Big fish." Denya said, and for one of the first times Kohta felt his friend was a bit shaken up.

"Real big fish." He agreed calmly. "Damn." He sighed, then bent down and scooped up his dropped spears. "Well, that's the end of that. Unless you feel like wrestling a shark that is." Kohta's sentence cut off abruptly, halted by a sudden idea. He turned, facing Denya who immediately felt an uneasy sensation at the look in his friend's eyes. "You know, that is a pretty big fish. Seems to me that the others would be pretty content with us if we could drag that bad boy back with us." Kohta was grinning again. It was The Grin, the grin that signified a complete disregard for anything that existed outside of the deranged labyrinth of planning created by his mind. Denya took a step back.

"I think that we can gather enough fish without-" Denya tried to reason, but he may as well have not spoken at all as Kohta reasoned with himself.

"You'll need to use your bayonet, yes it's a good thing you brought your rifle with you after all. Don't want to waste ammo, stab for the gills and the head…" Kohta's grin grew as his plan worked out in his head.

"Kohta, I think you're missing a big point here. I would rather not play pin the bayonet on the goddamn shark."

"Aw c'mon man, it'll be fine. Stupid shark doesn't stand a chance. Now listen, we need to draw it in close. Sharks have a super sensitive sense of smell and I bet he wouldn't be this close to shore unless he was really hungry. So you'll take one of the dead fish we've got and slit it up a bunch, get it good and bloody. Dump that in, then when he gets close just one quick stab! Bam, and we all have shark fin soup tonight!"

"Eh, sharks are endangered though, are they not?"

"Oh come on man, what's got you all up in a knot over this?"

"How about the part where you want me to jump into waist-high bloody water and lure in a fucking shark?"

"Dude, you've got to look at the big picture." Kohta said dismissively. "This will be awesome, we'll be heroes!"

"Haven't we killed enough of Them to be heroic enough?"

"Come on Denya, this is a _shark_. We're only getting this chance once, this is the only time you'll have the opportunity to go spear-fishing for sharks. C'mon man, do I really need to write this out?"

_Yes. Yes you should. _Denya thought in exasperation. This was stupid, this was dangerous, this was unnecessary. They'd already caught plenty of fish, they didn't need to act out _Jaws_. However, Denya had to concede a very good point to Kohta. This _was _his chance to spear-fish for a _shark_. He looked at his rifle, then to the shark, then back to a glowing Kohta.

"_Yeb tvoyu mat…"_

* * *

><p>"Alright, now keep your arm high and keep your eyes on his head, that's where the danger is!" Kohta called out instructions from a position of relative safety. The water lapping against his sides felt malicious, and Denya shifted uneasily on the rock and coral that supported him. One hand helped to steady himself, while the other held the Mosin-Nagant tipped with bayonet, poised like a spear. "Alright, get ready, here comes the fish!" With a flick of the wrist, Kohta sent a savaged multi-colored corpse flipping through the air uncomfortably close to Denya and sending inky tendrils of blood into the water.<p>

Denya had never learned much about sharks beyond a badly dubbed pirated VHS tape of _Jaws,_ but he had picked up they had lots of teeth, were cold-blooded killers, and were apparently man's mortal enemy. What he had not picked up was just how terrifyingly fast they were. Almost the moment the bait splashed in the water, the shark fired towards the nervous young Russian like a big toothy torpedo. Bracing himself, Denya waited until the rocketing embodiment of fear was just in front of him before acting. But as he reared back to drive his bayonet through its cold evil head, coral and rock betrayed him and gave way to imbalance. Denya only managed to half shout an obscenity before he fell face-first into the bloody, shark-infested water.

Kohta didn't fully see what happened. What he did see was a burst of speed from the shark, a fit of flailing from Denya, and a dread-filled splash as his friend plunged into the water. His first words were, "Oh , fuck…" His second ones were, "Oh, fuck! Komuro!" He shouted with a shot of panic as his friend disappeared beneath a cloud of murky water. Grabbing one of his spears, he skidded down to the lowest rock and stood over the writhing water, murk cut by flashes of a swashing tail. He stood poised, spear at the ready to help his friend. If he could see him, that was. "Hey, hey you! You big overgrown Koi, let him go!"

On cue, the water exploded as a panic-enamored Denya shot out like a swearing cruise missile, scrambling desperately for surface. The shark followed swiftly behind, blowing out of the murk of stirred up sand with the chewed-up rifle stuck in its jaws. It missed, but the outstretched butt of the gun hit Denya's side and spun him around. With a strangled cry he vanished back into the water.

"Hirano, what the hell's going on?" And where's Kondrashin, aren't you guys fishing?" Takashi came running down the rocks towards them. No sooner had he spoke than the thrashing body of the shark burst out of the water, along with one terrified teenager. The former exchange student had both hands clasped around the rifle and was trying for all his life to keep himself on his feet. The shark had its mouth firmly clasped down on it and was waggling ferociously back and forth, trying to un-steady its troublesome meal.

In between panicked swears and gasps, Denya managed to shout out, "Kohta please!" Kohta leaped to action, arm cocked back and spear in hand.

"I'm coming, comrade!" He shouted as he hurled the spear forward with all his might. The wooden stake lanced into the sharks exposed back near its dorsal fin. Although the wound was quite shallow, it must have been painful, for the terror of the depths opened its jaws wide and spun around, sweeping Denya off his feet with its tail. Now it was Kohta's turn to learn how fast sharks were, as rings of chainsaw teeth rushed at him. Scrambling back, he slipped on the wet rock, landing hard on his can. Pulling himself back desperately, Kohta swore in panic as the white shredding teeth zeroed in on his dangling legs. _Thump!_

A chunk of rock the size of a basketball clobbered the sharks head, knocking it senseless. Takashi was reaching for another as he yelled, "Kondrashin, go!" Denya didn't need any encouragement, with a brutal scream he sloshed forward, rifle/chew-toy raised high, and plunged it down, sinking the bayonet deep into the sea monsters gills.

The shark exploded in movement, spasming out violently as it desperately tried to break free. But a second rock pummelled its head, followed by a heavy crack from a rifle butt. It slowed, stunned. Denya stabbed in a frenzy, driving steel into flesh again and again as Kohta jumped in on the action, madly jabbing at it with his combat knife. Blood spurted out from the shark in dark red inky jets, rapidly spreading out and mixing with the dirty water to create a billowing black concoction. As the sharks movements faded the adrenaline faded from their systems, and the mindless impaling came to a rest.

The hole-riddled shark bobbed gently in the waves. All three boys were breathing heavily.

"What. The. Hell." Takashi exclaimed between gasps. He put down the rock he'd been holding and flopped down on the rock, splashing his feet in the stained water.

"Holy shit…" Kohta said, spear gripped tight in his fingers. Denya stood white as a sheet in the water, quaking like a leaf.

"_M-mo-mother of G-God."_ Words broke away into murmured mumbling; he rested his weight against the battered rifle. "_Yebar'!" _He said with a hiss, giving the floating a corpse a good solid crack with the rifle stock for good measure.

"Well. I think we're good for fish." Takashi said breathlessly, a giddy grin spreading across his face. Kohta let out a breathless yell.

"Nice going, comrade, I knew you could do it all along." He said enthusiastically. Denya however did not say anything. He simply pulled himself onto the rock, breathing breathlessly and muttering in his language.

"Uh, hey dude, are you doing oka-" Kohta's epiphany of how stupid his question hit him at the same time as eyes of barely contained fury. Kohta quickly got to his feet, backing up towards the beach. "Hey, so uh, good job, man. Really awesome, totally kickass. We're just going to take this bad boy to the beach and uhhh, see you later alright?" Kohta said quickly as he grabbed the tail of the dead shark and began dragging it away. Takashi turned and headed down the rock face to the beach.

"Hey, Komuro-san?" Denya said.. Takashi looked over.

"Hmm?"

"Thanks my man. Bastard almost got my leg." He laughed nervously and clutched his rifle tight. Takashi waved his hand dismissively.

"No worries. Now c'mon, we'll need your help gutting this fish."

* * *

><p>The shark looked bigger on the beach than in the water. It was also a lot heavier, taking all three of the boys to drag it out of the surf and onto the sand. Kohta's combat knife was most suited for the task of slitting the gritty flesh open and Denya was the only one with experience gutting. Dividing animals apart took him back to living on the farm at home, and he even perked up a little; subconsciously humming a little tune.<p>

"_Da_, you see now? The guts are about here, and then the liver and all that stuff should be right here!" With a flick of the wrist Denya slit the pale white stomach open from throat to tail, spilling the bundled entrails all over the sand. The rank stench of fish guts hit them like a wall, but the three boys had smelled considerably worse in recent weeks. It was morbidly fascinating to watch the coils of pail intestine slither and slide over the sand while the baggy entities of other organs curled up helplessly along with the usual blood and fish slime. The two observe let out an appreciative whistle.

"So, what parts of it are good to eat?" Kohta asked.

"Well, the fins are supposed to be good for soup or something I think." Takashi said. "You know how to cook this up, right?"

"Are you kidding? I've never even seen a shark before." Denya said. "But they're not poisonous or anything, we'll just cut chunks of meat off."

"Is that the stomach?" Kohta pointed to the largest of the wallowing organs.

"I dunno. Probably." Denya said, busy cutting off slabs of shark meat.

"Cut it open, man, check what's inside. Sharks are supposed to eat all sorts of crazy stuff."

"Sure thing." Denya grabbed the slimy bag and slid it over. "And _otkroyte!" _With one fluid motion he sliced the stomach open, letting out a flood of digestive juices and slime that spilled all over the ground. "Alright, let's see what our little _rybnyy _has been chewing on-" Denya lunged to his feet and leapt back from the shark like it was poison. _Yebat'! _He shouted, recoiling away and grabbing his rifle.

Half out of the bisected stomach with half the flesh scoured away by stomach juices, a face stared out at them. Decayed greyish meat hang off the skull like wet paper mache, and lidless eyes stared out at them. Hearts choked up in their throats of a split second, the three boys stared bug-eyed as through a lipless mouth, the jaw opened and shut with chilling consistency. Loose teeth clacked together.

It made no sound, the vocal cords must have been torn away. But they didn't need the eternal hellish moan to know what exactly was in front of them. They recovered in a split second, and with a flurry of violent motion the head and its demonic chanting were suddenly eviscerated by three different blades. The motion ceased as the head was ripped apart and the three boys bent in for a closer look. Takashi cautiously prodded the stomach with his spear, then gave it a little kick. Nothing stirred.

"Well I'm not sure about you two, but I'm not sure this thing is really fit for eating." Takashi declared. Kohta and Denya nodded vigorously. Hungry or not, they'd eat raw coral before even daring to taste something that had been chewing at one of Them. The inside-out shark wallowed in front of them, starting to sink into the wet filthy sand.

"Well, that's that then." Kohta said casually. "Now what?"

"Well, now we have to hope the old saying is true. There are plenty of fish in the sea." Takashi said with a cracked smile. "C'mon guys, we've got supper to catch."

* * *

><p>The 'Epic of the Shark' as Kohta insisted on calling the event raised some eyebrows. Of course Saya was the first to criticize their dashing feat.<p>

"So you left several hundred pounds of fresh-caught fish to rot on the beach? And you brought us _this _instead?" She said distastefully, pointing to the pile of rather small colorful fish that looked like the boys had scooped them out of a pet store front window. Kohta's face burned as he ermed and erred in face of the pink-haired girls attention. Thankfully Takashi intervened before Kohta could embarrass himself too much.

"Takagi-san, do you honestly think eating meat from something that had Them inside its stomach would be a safe idea?" Saya opened her mouth in a hundred words of welling protest, but Takashi cut her off. "Yes, I know that in all likelihood it probably wouldn't be dangerous, but that is absolutely not a risk I will take right now, or ever for that matter. So think what you want, but don't say anything else because I'm not going to hear it." His voice hardened with a degree of stern authority, a tone he that had been developing in the time since they'd left Fujimi Academy. Saeko nodded in approval.

"Komuro-san is right, there's no need to take reckless dangers. I'm sure the fish we have here will be sufficient. Now let's get the fire going again. I'm not sure about all of you, but I'm famished." She said with a smile, heading off to stoke the flames.

Half an hour later, the sun had begun to melt over the horizon, spreading luscious orange and red smears across the sky. A slight chill crept in, but the fire kept its attendants good and warm. Over the crackling flames a few wooden spits skewed strips of fish meat, where they hissed and popped in the delicious heat. Takashi was sitting back against a rock, feet buried in the warm sand and friends on all sides. No words were spoken, the blissfully warm silence was too enjoyable to let dialogue fracture now. Takashi looked across the group with a certain fondness. Kohta smiled merrily to himself, gently turning the meat over and adding more fuel to the fire. Rei and Saeko seemed to be at peace finally, at least for the moment. They lay on their backs, arms behind their heads and eyes blissfully closed.

Even Saya looked to be letting herself enjoy life for once. While not quite smiling, she sat back, supporting herself with her arms, gazing at the sky like all the stress, aggravation, and snippiness had been washed out. She took a deep breath, and let it out with warm contentment. Beside her, Shizuka-Sensei snored peacefully, Zeke curled up at her feet and Alice on her lap, napping in her arms. Denya lay next to Takashi, hands beneath his chin, staring intensely into the dancing flames.

_This is good. Despite everything horrible, right now and right here, this is good. _Takashi sighed happily, tilting his head back and feeling the majestic grace of the heat on his toes.

"Foods ready!" Kohta broke the peaceful bliss with the delicacy of cannonball, but the animosity towards him quickly broke as they took in the smell of the fish. Having not eaten anything fresh for weeks, the fish smelled like the most mouth-watering delicacy on earth, and everyone quickly got up to reach out for some. "Hold on, let him get it out of the fire first." Takashi said jokingly as Kohta slid the spits out and began dishing out portions.

"My god, this fish smells amazing! I mean, I'm not a connoisseur or anything, but I never knew fish could smell so sweet! It almost reminds of the spice shops back home, but different somehow!" Rei raved.

Saeko laughed gently. "We truly must be deprived to think open-fire cooked angelfish are so good. But I do admit, they really do smell rather strongly, like no fish I've ever had." He didn't say anything, but Takashi felt inclined to agree. While his fish experience had never gone beyond sushi, there was a fairly odd musk in the air. And it smelled nothing like meat, it really smelled like something else entirely. Takashi frowned, trying to think clearly. Just what was it… It smelled like, like,

"Hydrangea!" Shizuka shouted aloud in a very abnormal turn of personality. The dozy nurse suddenly came alive, leaping to her feet with actual fear in her eyes. "Everyone, quickly get back! We've been burning hydrangea leaves!" The others looked at her fish-eyed.

"Shizuka-sensei, what's wrong with that?" Rei said, a murkiness creeping into her voice. Takashi shook his head, trying to focus through the increasing mental fog. What were they burning? Because he was starting to feel drowsy.

"Please, everyone get away from the fire now! Hydrangeas are a very intoxicating species of plant, known to cause mental illusions and-and vivid hallucinations, so everyone please step away-step here, step over now!" Shizuka's voice rapidly began to slur words together as her eyes began to mist over. Takashi was still struggling to make sense of it all when Kohta –who had been nearest the smoke- whipped the nearest skewed out of the fire and held it high like Excalibur.

"Yes- Yes that's it, c'mon everybody! Through peace and war, we shall attack them!" With a giddy yell of battle, he took off towards the surf, blundering through the others. Alarm was cutting through Takashi's mind now, piercing the building fog as the world began to move unnaturally around him. With a sense of distance between him and his body, he got to his feet with some difficulty and took a step back, clear of the fire and its intoxicating smoke.

Shizuka seemed to have succumbed to the noxious fumes, a giddy smile plastered across her face as she lovingly reached her hand out towards Rei, cooing gently. Rei however paid her no heed as she busied herself with writhing blissfully in the sand. In a dart of movement to his right, Takashi spotted Denya steadying himself from the corner of his eyes. Shaking his head like a dizzied cow, desperation n his eyes, he steadied himself and charged down the beach away from the fire as fast as he could.

"Komuro, come quickly! We must be away from here before we lose our heads as well." Saeko was beside him, a cold breeze slapped in his face jarring him to reality. His eyes widened as he realized the implications of the smoke. Clasping Saeko's hand in his, he followed with stumbled steps as she dragged him inwards towards the forest, the world bending around him.

* * *

><p>The morning after, ocean fog lifted like a sheet from the earth, revealing a scene from some terrible battle. Bodies lay strewn in the sand in various states of disarray and humiliation. Saya was the first to awake, slowly coming to with mounting horror as pieces and bits of memory from the night prior flashed past her eyes. She checked herself, rearranging her swimsuit into place. Casting eyes around carefully, she checked for any sign that she was being watched. If anyone else had memories of this nightmare…<p>

Movement stirred the forest. Denya calmly stepped out from between palm branches into the morning sun, looking for all in the world like a samurai prepared to fall on his sword. Face utterly devoid of emotion save the flushing red across his cheeks, he gave her the curtest of glances before moving on. Without word or noise, they located the others and slowly roused them, turning away so they could comprehend the horror of their actions alone.

It was late morning before they found the strength be in each other's proximity again. Eyes fixed firmly at the ground or sky in front of them, they steadily marched to the beach house. Their clothes were dried now, they dressed themselves quickly and noiselessly. They assembled their weapons, checking their condition with fluid familiarity, and headed out to find Takashi.

They walked in silence for a good ten minutes. At twenty minutes, Rei spoke softly.

"Everyone agrees of course, that was all completely accidental." A minute passed in silence.

"Totally accidental." Saeko said curtly.

"We were fully intoxicated beyond reason." Shizuka commented.

"Completely out of control of any action, nothing at all was done intentionally." Saya justified quietly.

"No one will ever speak of this again." Denya said simply.

"Agreed." All said simultaneously. They walked in silence. Alice hung to Shizuka's hand, wondering what they were talking about. Zeke barked once. The group moved on.

"…Stop…Please, stop…" They'd heard Takashi's dulled cries from around the bend. They intensified in tone, as did the series of all-so-familiar groans which prompted immediate speed to their walk. They burst around the trail, weapons raised.

Takashi continued to cry for 'help.' Fifteen feet in front of them, in a small clearing on the grass. He was wearing nothing but briefs, and clawing desperately at each waving limb was one of Them. Oblivious to this threat, Takashi continued to roll and writhe in his fevered sleep.

"Please…ladies, ladies… I'm just one man…" He said with a droopy grin on his face. The others just watched in a mix of amazement and revulsion. Rei suddenly stepped forward coldly, striking one dead through the brain. Immediately the others descended onto Them and freeing Takashi from their cold grasp. Prodded by the butt of Denya's rifle, Takashi suddenly came to.

"Wha-g'morning?" He said in muddled confusion, trying to get a look at his saviours. "Re-Rei? Saeko? What's going on-" he spoke, voice suddenly falling short as realization struck him like an anvil. Cold fear sank into his chest and spread over his face as his jaw slowly lowered. The others simply nodded, and turned around. The least they could do was let him come to terms alone. But before the grief could fully hit him, Alice ran in without regard for the trauma. Beaming like a star, she proudly announced:

"I found a tunnel! I think we can leave the island! Hey, what's everyone so upset about?"

_/fin_

_Alright, that's finally done! Now I have no idea when I'll have anything up again for this story, but I may very well add little things up every once and awhile. Anyway, read and review as always, and thanks for bothering to check up on this woefully neglected story. Ciao mates!_

_Glossary of Russian words/expressions used:_

_Yebat'__: Fuck_

_Yeb tvoyu mat__: God-fucking-damn, or along those lines._

_Otkroyte__: Open wide/open up_

_Rybnyy__: Fishy _

_Yebar'__: Fucker_

_Da: __Yes_


End file.
